A Crime Is A Status Offense

Oxford English Dictionary- An action or omission which constitutes an offence and is punishable by law: ‘shoplifting was a serious crime’.

Actus Reus - "the criminal act" [Latin, Guilty act.] is an element of criminal responsibility, that a person acts wrongful or includes the physical components of a crime. Criminal statutes generally need proofs of both actus reus and mens rea on the portion of a defendant in command to establish criminal obligation.

The five principles of a crime are the guilty act or actus reus, the guilty intent or mens rea, the relationship between guilty act and guilty intent, the attendant circumstances and the results. The guilty act or actus reus is the inception of a crime, “this criminal liability occurs only after a voluntary act that results in criminal harm” (Neubauer & Fradella, 2014). This protects Americans from being punished for bad thoughts. The guilty intent or mens rea establishes and distinguishes between the mental state required in committing a crime. This insures that Americans are not prosecuted for innocently causing harm to another. The relationship and union between the guilty act and the guilty intent further distinguishes an act from being

The recklessness was that D should have foreseen that defacing a gas appliance is dangerous and can asphyxiate people.

The contest of strength between the Crime Control Model and the Due Process Model is similar to attempting to satisfy every person, each and every second and no one some of the time. Debates are good for both models, but for all growth on one side, there must be one on the opposing side as well. The Crime Control Model, prosecutor or the police, is not in favor for the Due Process Model, a person, to have more rights than they do. Each and every individual who is a United States citizen should know what his or her rights are.

Leading U.S. supreme court cases in criminal justice: Briefs and key terms is a source reference with respect to criminal law, constitutional law, and criminal procedure. The major focus of this book includes explained mandates of over 1000 U.S. Supreme Court cases and this book details key terms and definitions.

This is an introductory course in the study of criminal law, general legal principles, and how the criminal law functions in and affects modern society. This course highlights a variety of key topics, including the concept of crime and the development of criminal law, defenses to criminal charges, and a number of specific types of crimes, including personal crimes, property crimes, public order crimes, and offenses against public morality. Legal issues affecting punishment will also be discussed, as will ways the criminal law impacts victims of crime.

This paper is being submitted August 11, 2013 for Professor Sheryl Prichard’s Criminal Law and Procedure course at Devry University by Jonah Colombo.

An illegal act that is committed by an adult, which is any person over the age of eighteen, is considered a crime. Acts such as

Horrigan, B, _Adventures in Law & Justice: exploring the big legal questions in Everyday Life_, Lawbook Company, Sydney, 2003

A crime consists of an actus reus and a mens rea, in order to obtain a conviction of a criminal charge there must be a concurrence between the actus reus and mens rea. The elements of a criminal act

Actus Reus is the physical act of the crime why the defendant did what they did? Referring back to murder the defendant could have unlawfully kill someone if they had a bad intention but if the defendant did it for self defence then it is not classed as unlawful. Omissions as Actus Reus is killing the victim e.g. stabbing them, running them over, shooting them etc. the natural rule of omission cant actually make the defendant guilty of the act he has committed. This was told by Stephen J, a 19th century judge in the following way and I quote “A sees B drowning and is able t save him by holding out his hand. An abstains from doing so in order that B may be drowned. A has committed no offence” an omission is only agreeable for the Actus Reus, where there is a duty to act. There are four important positions in which such duty can exist.

White R & Haines F, Crime and Criminology: An Introduction, 2nd ed, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 2000.

Whereas the second category is conduct, this would be the action which is an offence for example dangerous driving, this would mean that there does not need to be any result of the action to establish and actus reus as the act is simply an actus reus in itself.

Actus reus is either a specific action or in some cases the absence of action.