Criminal
Law: An Overview
Crimes
are generally categorized as either felonies or misdemeanors although
some are treated as only infractions or minor offenses. Felonies
are the most serious types of crime and the punishment for a felony
is more severe than a misdemeanor.
Two
things must be present in order for a crime to be committed: an
act (the physical element) and a particular state of mind (the
mental element). The act is the body of the crime -- the corpus
delecti. In a murder, for example, it is the killing of a human
being by another human being. In arson it is the burning of a
structure. Merely thinking about doing something illegal is not
a crime.
You
are guilty of solicitation if you ask someone to commit a crime
for you, or to help you commit a crime, or when you advise someone
on how to commit a crime. The only act required for the crime
of solicitation is that of asking or advising the other person
to do an illegal act.
Conspiracy
is an agreement between to or more persons to commit a crime.
A married man and his mistress, for example , may plot to kill
his wife and collect the insurance money. But in order for the
crime to be committed, more is required than a mere agreement.
One of the conspirators must do an "overt act" that
furthers the conspiracy. Suppose that after making the agreement
with his mistress, the man buys a gun to kill his wife with. The
husband and mistress are guilty of conspiracy because buying the
gun to achieve the goal of the conspiracy -- killing the wife
-- was the necessary overt act. If the two now have a change of
heart and decide to forget the whole thing, they are still guilty
of conspiracy.
Criminal
Defense 