CRIMES AGAINST THE PERSON

HOMICIDE
Homicide occurs when another human being is caused to be deceased because of some act or omission. A
viable fetus (unborn children) in a growing number of jurisdictions is considered a human being for homicide
purposes. The common law recognizes three types of homicide based on the circumstances:
● Justifiable Homicide: killings that are authorized by the law (capital punishment)
● Excusable Homicide: killings, which are otherwise impermissible, are defensible because of the
circumstances
● Unlawful Homicide: killings that are impermissible and cannot be excused under the circumstances

This part covers only unlawful homicides:

Murder Manslaughter

Common Law Murder:
Unlawful killing of another human being with malice
aforethought:
● Intent to kill;
● Intent to commit a felony (felony murder);
● Intent to inflict great bodily harm; or
● Reckless indifference to an unjustifiably
high risk to human life, this is also known as
“depraved-heart murder.” Note that this
does not require an actual “intent,” but
merely the actor acted with grave
indifference
First Degree Murder:
● Deliberate and Premeditated Killing:
○ The defendant chose to kill the victim Involuntary Manslaughter:
in a “cool and dispassionate”
manner;
○ No time to reflect;
○ Intended to kill or inflict great bodily
harm on the victim
● First Degree Felony Murder:
○ See felony murder specifically for
what the doctrine generally requires;
○ Felony must be enumerated by
statute, but typically robbery, rape,
arson, burglary, kidnapping, and
other inherently dangerous felonies
Includes all other homicides for where there can be
liability, such as voluntary manslaughter and
involuntary manslaughter:
Voluntary Manslaughter:
Would be murder, but for adequate provocation:
● The circumstances would create a sudden
and intense passion in the mind of a
reasonable person (finding someone in bed
with the spouse; exposed to a threat of
deadly force);
● Defendant was provoked, lost control;
● Defendant had no time to cool down;
● Defendant did not cool off
● Killing with criminal negligence (or
recklessness under the MPC; requires a
substantial risk as opposed to a high risk,
which would be depraved heart murder);
● Imperfect Self Defence: Murder mitigated
to manslaughter if:
○ Defendant was “at fault” for starting
the altercation; OR
○ Unreasonably but honestly believed
it was necessary to respond to victim
with deadly force (do not qualify for
self defence)
● Killing while committing a misdemeanor

Felony Murder
● Any killing during the course of a felony, and could be carried out by the intended victim;
○ Underlying felony is other than the killing;
○ Substantive defences negating elements of the underlying felony are defences to felony
murder;
○ Deaths must be foreseeable
● Rule applies even after the defendant had left the crime scene and is fleeing the police, until the
defendant had reached “a place of temporary safety”

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Causation
● Cause-In-Fact or “But For" Cause:
○ Result would not have happened without the defendant’s conduct
● Proximate Cause:
○ Result is a natural and probable consequence of the conduct, even if the actor did not
precisely anticipate the results;
○ Superseding forces may sever the chain of causation, such as:
■ Intervening acts that are a coincidence or outside the foreseeable sphere of risk
created by the defendant;
■ But note the following exceptions:
● Hastening an inevitable result is still the legal cause (“euthanasia” fact
patterns; ending the misery of a dying loved one by poisoning);
● Preexisting weakness or frailty, even unforeseeable, does not sever the
causation chain (comparable to the “Eggshell Skull Plaintiff rule” in torts);
● Simultaneous acts by two or more actors are each independently sufficient to
cause one single result;
● Third party doctor’s negligent medical care is foreseeable;
● Victim’s refusal of medical treatment due to religious reasons is foreseeable

Homicide Analysis
● Did the victim die?
○ No: No homicide liability (may still be liable for battery, assault, or attempted murder)
○ Yes
■ Did the killing occur during the commission of a felony?
● Yes:
○ Was the crime a dangerous felony?
■ Yes: Apply felony murder rules
■ No: Apply misdemeanor manslaughter rules
● No:
○ Did the defendant have the intent to kill or inflict great bodily harm, or
recklessly disregard great risk to human life?
■ Yes: Did the defendant act in response to adequate
provocation?
■ No: Did the defendant act with criminal negligence?
● Yes: Involuntary manslaughter
● No: No homicide liability

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SEX CRIMES

Common Law Rule Modern Rules

Carnal Knowledge Must be unlawful; man to woman Penetration of the penis into the
vulva; ejaculation not required

Identity of the Actor Not the woman’s husband Spousal rape recognized

Consent Without the woman’s consent Without the woman’s consent:

-Force or threat (placing victim in
fear of great and immediate
bodily harm);
-Incapacity (unconsciousness,
use of drugs/intoxicating
substances, or of the victim’s
mental condition);
-Fraud where:
● Victim doesn’t believe that
the act is sexual
intercourse;
● Impersonating the
husband

Other Sex-Related Crimes

Apart from statutory rape (a strict liability crime), the other common law crimes listed here are highly unlikely
to be tested here. This list is merely academic.

Crime Elements

Statutory Rape Strict liability offence; occurs whenever a person;

● Has carnal knowledge (any sexual act);
● Of a person under the age of consent
○ Any consent would be invalidated because the victim is
legally incapable of giving consent to a sexual act
because of her age (most states vary between 16 to
18)

Crime Against Nature ● Bestiality (sex with animals)

Traditionally at common law, includes consensual sodomy between
adults but largely overruled

Adultery Misdemeanor offence in most jurisdictions; adulty is defined as any

person who cohabits OR has sexual intercourse with another person
not the spouse;
● The behavior is open and notorious; and
● A married individual, the other person involved is not the
spouse; OR
● An unmarried individual, the other person involved is married

Fornification Unmarried persons engaging in sexual intercourse, or open and

notorious cohabitation

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Incest Statutory felony, where liability is based on a marriage/sexual act
between individuals who are too closely related

Seduction At common law, liability arises when, a male person:

● Induces;
● An unmarried female;
● Of previous chaste character;
● To engage in an act of sexual intercourse;
● On the promise of marriage

In most jurisdictions, it is a defence if the parties marry ex post

Bigamy Strict liability crime: liability based on a married individual who marries
another person. At common law, defendant is guilty even if she
believes that a divorce is valid/the other spouse is dead.

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OTHER CRIMES AGAINST THE PERSON
Crime Elements

Battery ● Unlawful application of force;

● Against the person of another; and
● Resulting in either bodily harm or an offensive touching (note
the similarities to the common law tort of intentional battery)
○ Force need not be applied directly (giving someone
poison, or unleashing a dog at someone would be
enough)
○ General intent
● Aggravated battery: proving an additional element such as
(1) use of a deadly weapon; (2) serious bodily harm; or (3) if
the victim is a child, woman, or police officer

Assault ● Attempt to commit a battery; OR

● The intentional creation (apart from mere words) of a
reasonable apprehension in the victim’s mind of imminent
bodily harm
● Aggravated assault includes additional elements, such as:
○ With a dangerous (or deadly) weapon;
○ Intent to rape, murder, or cause serious bodily injury

Mayhem ● Dismemberment or disablement of a bodily part

Has been generally replaced with aggravated battery

False Imprisonment ● Unlawful confinement of a person

○ Victim is compelled to go to a place she does not want
to go, or remain in a place she does not want to. Even
if there is a restraint, no confinement if the victim has
an alternative way to go where she wants to go.
○ Can be accomplished by threat/show of force, or
actual force
● Without valid consent

Kidnapping General Kidnapping:

● Traditional: forcible abduction or “stealing away" of a person
from one’s own country;
● Today’s common law: asportation (or carrying away) of the
victim; and concealment in a secret place

Some jurisdictions include greater punishment for aggravated

kidnapping, such as:
● Ransom; to commit another crime; for an offensive purpose:
● Child stealing: leading, taking, enticing, or detaining a child
with the intent to keep or conceal the child from a parent or
guardian