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🎧 EPISODE SUMMARY 🎧Criminal liability requires more than harm; it involves conduct, mental state, concurrence, and causation.
Under the principle of legality, criminal prohibitions must predate conduct to ensure fair notice and limit vague or retroactive laws.
Modern Criminal Law is heavily statutory, requiring students to parse offenses into elements like conduct, result, circumstances, and mens rea.
An aggravated-burglary example shows why each statutory element must be proved separately rather than relying on general wrongdoing.
Actus reus represents external conduct, satisfied by voluntary acts, legal omissions, or possession—not thoughts or status alone.
A voluntary act involves conscious bodily movement, excluding involuntariness like reflexes or unconsciousness, though prior voluntary choices can establish liability.
Omission liability requires a legal duty—from statutes, contracts, relationships, or created danger—plus physical ability and mental state.
Possession can satisfy actus reus through actual custody or constructive control, provided there is knowledge and opportunity to terminate control.
Criminal law targets conduct rather than status or identity, distinguishing active offenses from conditions like addiction.
Criminal liability begins with legally attributable conduct.
Liability requires proving each defined statutory element of conduct rather than punishing thoughts, status, or moral failure.
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