Deck 9: Criminal Law

Question 1

If a man committed a crime while sleepwalking, his best defense would be

A) insanity.
B) self-defense.
C) involuntary act.
D) lack of knowledge.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

The principal defense to a charge of rape is

A) the victim was over the age of majority.
B) intoxication.
C) absence of physical injury.
D) consent.

Answer 2

D

Question 3

A defense to the crime of conspiracy is

A) consent.
B) intoxication.
C) renunciation of criminal purpose.
D) the crime was unsuccessful.

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Which of the following is an example of a crime of mala in se?

A) Allowing a license tag to expire
B) Filing an income tax late
C) Child abuse
D) Parking violation

Question 5

A criminal statute that includes "knowingly" in its language indicates a requirement of

A) malice.
B) recklessness.
C) actus reus .
D) specific intent.

Question 6

In United States v. Heineman , the court held that

A) Heineman's email was protected under the First Amendment.
B) One who sends an email that instills fear in the recipient can be convicted even if the sender did not intend to instill fear.
C) the statute under which Heineman was convicted was unconstitutional because it criminalized protected speech.
D) Heineman's conviction should be reversed and the case should be remanded for the trial court to determine whether Heineman intended his email to instill fear, a requirement under the statute criminalizing an interstate threat.

Question 7

Which of the following elements converts manslaughter to murder?

A) Specific intent
B) Voluntariness
C) Premeditation
D) General intent

Question 8

A general statement of American criminal law is compiled in the

A) American Law Reports .
B) United States Code Annotated .
C) Model Penal Code .
D) Rules of Court.

Question 9

Which two components are required to hold a person responsible for a criminal act?

A) Mala in se and mala prohibita
B) Certiorari and corpus delicti
C) Malice prepense and malice aforethought
D) Mens rea and actus reus

Question 10

In Porras v. State , the court held that

A) the evidence adduced at trial was insufficient to authorize a rational trier of fact to find beyond a reasonable doubt that Porras was guilty of the crimes of which he was convicted.
B) Porras's conviction should be reversed; the evidence of the alternative account of the shooting was substantial, such that the jury could not have found Porras guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
C) the evidence adduced at trial was sufficient to convict Porras and, although the trial court erroneously failed to charge that a witness can be impeached by proof of a prior felony conviction, the error was harmless.
D) the trial court's failure to charge that a witness also may be impeached by proof that the witness has been convicted of a felony was prejudicial error, and Porras's conviction should be reversed.

Question 11

A crime may be distinguished from a private action by

A) the immorality of the conduct.
B) the party bringing the action.
C) the social outrage it causes.
D) whether or not it wrongs society.

Question 12

The words malicious and willful most closely equate with what form of criminal intent?

A) Transferred
B) Implied
C) Specific
D) General

Question 13

In Lane v. Ballot , the court held that

A) a criminal conviction cannot be used in applying the doctrine of collateral estoppel to a civil case.
B) the doctrine of collateral estoppel cannot be applied until the appeal is final.
C) the superior court was correct in applying the doctrine of collateral estoppel to find that Lane's criminal conviction for assaulting Annie Ballot established that he was liable to her in tort.
D) the superior court was incorrect in applying the doctrine of collateral estoppel because the verdict against Lane of guilty but mentally ill was not sufficient to establish the elements of the crime of which he was convicted.

Question 14

In United States v. Jewell (transporting drugs into the United States), the court held that

A) ignorance of the presence of drugs in the defendant's car could not be a defense.
B) ignorance of the law is no defense.
C) deliberate ignorance was equivalent to knowledge.
D) knowledge is not a jury question.

Question 15

In Oliveras v. State , the court held that

A) robbery must be defined as a specific intent offense if it is used to support a charge of felony murder, and several of the jury instructions were erroneous; therefore, the cumulative effect was that Oliveras's convictions should be reversed.
B) there was insufficient evidence that Oliveras agreed to murder Mendez-Rodriguez with Zambada, aided Zambada in the murder, and took property from Mendez-Rodriguez.
C) it would follow the rule of lenity and find that the robbery did not supply intent sufficient to hold Oliveras liable for murder under the felony-murder rule.
D) there was sufficient evidence that Oliveras aided with the murder and robbed the victim to support his convictions, and the court disagreed with Oliveras's assertion that robbery must be defined as a specific intent offense if it is used to support a charge of felony murder.

Question 16

The Model Penal Code treats attempted crimes as

A) nonpunishable.
B) lesser included offenses.
C) equal in grade to successful crimes.
D) conspiracies.

Question 17

In the criminal law, general intent requires

A) the specific result that occurred.
B) malice.
C) foreseeability of harm.
D) a harmful act.

Question 18

Today, the primary source of the definition of crimes in the various states is found in

A) the civil code.
B) judicial opinions.
C) the statutes.
D) the Rules of the Court.

Question 19

In People v. Christopherson , the court held that

A) Christopherson could not be convicted because she was under twenty-one.
B) the charge was correctly dismissed because Christopherson had suffered enough already.
C) the trial court improperly dismissed the charge against Christopherson because there is no exception for someone under twenty-one.
D) the statute applied only to those who had reached their majority.