Substantive criminal law defines what types of

conduct are criminal and prescribes the penalties to

be imposed for engagement in that conduct.

Procedural criminal law involves the rules designed

to implement the substantive law. It is concerned
with the criminal process, the legal steps through
which an accused offender passes.
Sumerian Codes (3500 BC)
Codes of Hammurabi (2000 BC)
Egyptian laws
Hebrew Law
Greco/Roman Law (Justinian I – 534 AD
Medieval Era
Magna Carta (1215 AD)
U.S. Constitution
State Constitutions
Federal, State, County, City Laws/Codes
Federal, State, County, City Regulatory Agency
Rules and Regulations
Executive Orders
Federal and State Court Decisions
A crime is an act or an omission prohibited
by law, the violation of which is prosecuted
by the state in a judicial proceeding in its
own name. It is a public wrong as
distinguished from a private wrong.
5% 20% 33% 51% 67% 90%

Shred Reasonable Probable Preponderance Clear & Beyond

Suspicion Cause Convincing Reasonable
Doubt
 Actus Reus
1. Commission – movement, verbal, possession
2. Omission – failure to act when had a legal duty to
do so
(Writ of demurrer)
 Mens rea (intent)
 Reasonable Man Test
Lowest Highest

General Recklessness General Specific Premeditation

Negligence Intent Malice
Insanity – lacks the capacity to appreciate the
wrongfulness of their conduct.
Under the influence of alcohol – voluntariness
is the key
An individual is not liable in a criminal court
for remote, unforseeable, or indirect
consequences which a reasonable person
would not have foreseen as likely to have
flowed from the act. There is a liability for the
direct results of the act, but a diminished/no
criminal liability for remote, unforseeable, or
indirect consequences.
Criminal Law Civil Law
Public offense Private wrong
Punishment Monetary damages
State brings the action Individual brings the action
Limited state appeals Both parties can appeal
Fine goes to the state Individual compensation
Beyond Reasonable Doubt Preponderance
Reasonable Man Test No Reasonable Man Test
Higher levels of intent Lower levels of intent
Unanimous jury Non-unanimous jury
The killing of a human being, caused by the act of another.

Justifiable
A - Court order:
1 - execution
2 - hospital/comatose situation
B - Necessary to suppress a legally defined riot setting.
C - Necessary when law enforcement agents are dealing with a
violent and/or immanentely dangerous felon.
D - Necessary when in defense of self or others who face a real and
immanent threat of death or serious injury.
E - Necessary when protecting your personal property (Make
My Day Laws)
The killing of a human being, caused by the act of another.

Excusable
A - By an individual incapable of crime
B - Result of an accident or mistake as a result of ordinary
negligence
Homicide that was neither justifiable nor
excusable.

- First degree murder (premeditation)

- Second degree murder (malice)
- Voluntary manslaughter (general intent)
- Involuntary manslaughter (recklessness)
- Statutory manslaughter (general negligence)
Any death which occurs during the commission of a felony can be
considered murder (usually 1st degree murder), and all participants in
that felony or attempted felony can be so charged as long as there is a
causal connection between the felony and the killing (proximate cause).
This rule broadens the crime of murder in two ways:
 Even if there was no intent to kill, if a death occurs during the
commission or attempted commission of a felony, murder can be
charged as long as there is a causal connection between the felony
and the killing (proximate cause).
 All participants in the felony can be held equally culpable, including
those who did no harm, possessed no weapon, and did not intend to
hurt anyone.
 Accessory to Murder (before the fact) – Same charge as if they committed the
murder:
(1) One who willfully aids, facilitates, assists, abets, counsels, commands,
induces or procures the commission of a murder
(2) One who willfully causes a murder to be done by another

 Accessory to Murder (after the fact) – Lessor charge, but still a serious felony
(1) Willfully hinders the apprehension, investigation or prosecution of
an alleged murderer
(2) Willful aid provided to an individual being investigated for/accused of a
murder, such as:
(a) harboring the individual (hiding them from legal authorities)
(b) providing ways and means of escape/to evade arrest
(c) tampering with evidence
(d) warning the individual of an impending arrest
(e) using force or deception to prevent the arrest
Any un-consented touching of another, no matter
how slight the injury.

- Knowledge of the victim is essential

- Words are sufficient – the accused’s conduct
must have created an apprehension of
immediate un-consented touching
- Simple assault
- Aggravated assault
- Verbal assault
- Assault with a dangerous weapon
- Assault with a deadly weapon
- Assault on a law enforcement officer
- Stalking
- Domestic assault
- Sexual assault
Sexual assault (traditional definition) – the
unlawful carnal knowledge of a woman by
force without consent.
1. No spousal exemption.
2. Spousal exemption only if living apart under
or pursuant to a court order of divorce.
3. Blanket spousal exemption.
The slightest sexual penetration of intimate
parts is sufficient to constitute a crime.
Most states have scaled out sexual assault
along a gradient from, for example, level 7
(un-consented kissing) up to step 1 (un-
consented and forced sexual intercourse).
No longer. Men may now be raped (gender
neutral).
Done generally in response to homosexual
scenarios.
What is force? Must the victim physically
resist?
What is consent? Can there be any level of
victim precipitation? If there is, is there a
mitigating level of criminal liability on the part
of the assailant?
 Few cases are reported to the police. Officially there
are roughly 125,000 cases reported each year, but the
actual number is likely closer to 3 million, maybe 4
million. The fact that so few are reported, this silent
tolerance of rape in America, is a disgusting cultural
defect.
 Perhaps as many as 20% of the rape convictions
involve some alleged level of victim precipitation.
 Around 5% of cases reported to the police are total
fabrications.
 An unknown number of cases involve a rape that has
actually occurred, and a subsequent purposeful false
identification of an offender by the victim.
 Non-chastity is not a defense, ie., a known prostitute
can be raped.
 Evidence as to the victim’s prior sexual habits/activity
can generally be presented in court to challenge their
reliability and creditability as a witness, and to
embarrass and confuse the witness while testifying.
These attacks are referred to as badgering.
Rape Shield laws in place to limit the
badgering
Courtroom paradox
Post sexual assault, assaults
Hollywood vs. reality
Nancy Raines, After Silence: Rape and My
Journey Back.
Rape/Spouse Abuse Crisis Center; 472-0203
Statutory Rape
Incest
Child Sexual Abuse
Traditional Male Sex Crimes
Obscenity
Prostitution
 United Nations Trafficking Protocol (117 countries)
 45.8 million currently in some form of forced
labor/slavery in 167 countries
 As many as 2.5 million new people are trafficked
every year
 8 million are in a forced sex trade
 Of that 8 million, 1.8 million are children
 65 million displaced persons in the world, so a ready
supply of candidates/victims to be trafficked
 $150 Billion enterprise, worldwide
Megan’s Law
SORIS (Sex Offender Registry and ID System)
Sex Offender Habitation Laws
Protect Act
Extra-territoriality
Princeton Principle of Universal Jurisdiction
The maximum time within which the state must initiate
legal proceedings
 Length of time varies tremendously from state to
state
 Misdemeanors – usually between 1 and 3 years
 Murder – no statute of limitations
 Other felonies – usually around 3, 5, 7 years
 Sexual assault – a number of states moving to
remove the statute of limitations or significantly
lengthen the timeframe, especially for child sexual
assault cases
Robbery – the taking and carrying away of the
property of another, by force or the threat
thereof; involves a fear factor
 Simple “robbery”
 Armed robbery (aggravated robbery)
 Robbery with a dangerous weapon
 Robbery with a deadly weapon
 Bank robbery (typically a federal offense)
Burglary – the breaking and entering into the
dwelling of another with the intent to commit
a felony
 Larceny/Theft – the taking and carrying away of the
property of another by one who has no right to
possession and/or ownership (intent is permanent
deprivation of ownership); it is a trespass against the
possession of another.
 Grand theft
 Petty theft
 Auto theft
 Shoplifting/employee theft
 Embezzlement (taking by one already in lawful
possession; it is a trespass against the ownership, rather
than the possession of, another)
 Planned bankruptcy
 Savings and Loan scams
 Check kiting
 Stock and bond fraud
 Land fraud
 Oil fraud
 Tax fraud
 Health care fraud
 Price fixing and bid rigging
 Sandbagging
 Money laundering
 Illegal campaign contributions
 Computer fraud/Cybercrime
 Identity theft
 Corporate Crime
 Bid rigging/price fixing
 Sale of defective merchandise
 Dumping of defective merchandise
 Illegal disposal (dumping) of toxic products
 Hazardous working conditions
 Filing false financial reports
 Governmental Misconduct (white collar and beyond)
 Watergate
 Iran/Contra
 Guantanamo/Abu Ghraib
 Genocides
 Arson
 Forgery
 Counterfeit products
 DVDs
 Clothes and apparel
 Jewelry
 Cosmetics
 Pharmaceutical drugs
 Money
 Art crime
 Receiving stolen property
Bribery (offering or accepting a bribe)
 the offer of anything of value to any person
holding public office with the intent of influencing
the official performance of their duty
 the receipt of anything of value by a public official
with the intent of being influenced in the official
performance of their duty (what is lobbying?)
Carrying a concealed weapon
Minors in possession of weapons
Possessing a weapon without adhering to:
 Waiting periods
 Restrictions
 Registration requirements
 Permit and license requirements
 Possessing banned weapons
Traffic violations
Theft of services
Kidnapping/False imprisonment
It is a crime to knowingly and intentionally
Possess, manufacture and/or distribute
controlled substances with authorization. The
big four at present are:
-marijuana
- cocaine/crack
- methamphetamines
- heroin
- Opiods (OxyContin, Percocet, Percodan, Vicodin)
- LSD
- Salvia/Sally D
- Ecstasy
- Ritalin
- Rohypnol (roofies)
- GHB
- Khat
- PCP
 Commit crimes while on drugs (not heroin, but
PDP and Ecstasy)
 Commit crimes to earn the money to buy drugs
(some 80% of urban property crime is drug
related)
 Conflict between buyer and seller at the street
level over product quantity and quality
 Street dealers fight to control their urban
territory
 Gangs and cartels compete to control the drug
trade and markets in their city, their country
(Bloods v. Crips; Mexican cartels)
 Tobacco (480,000 deaths/year in US; 6 million deaths/year worldwide)
 Purchase underage
 Provide to a minor
 Smoke in prohibited public places
 Tax evasion
 Alcohol (88,000 deaths/year in US; 2.5 million deaths/year worldwide)
 Purchase underage
 Possess underage
 Provide to a minor/contributing to the delinquency of a minor
 Public intoxication
 Urinating in public
 Tax evasion
 DWI (10,000+ deaths and 290,000+ injuries/year in US)
If you wish to break the law with impunity, become the law (Hitler, Stalin, Mao,
Marcos, etc).

Those who make the laws are far more dangerous to us than those we lock away.
The great criminals we know of are the major corporations and their governmental
partners who, in collusion, pass laws to make their illicit behaviors legal.

We receive law enforcement attention in inverse proportion to our power and

influence.

“All governments that have flourished since the beginning of time have been
nothing more than a conspiracy of the rich to perpetuate themselves under the
guise of statecraft.”
Thomas More

“Anything that is economically right, is morally right.”

Henry Ford

Role model theory and the market economy (C. Wright Mills)
 Money is the measure of self-worth.
 Money gives the power to change reality.
 Money brings a measure of immunity from wrongdoing.
 Unto those who acquire, less is required.
 Definitions of crime (which are controlled by the elite),
provide an ideology to justify their retention of
power/the status quo.
 The focus on street crime deflects attention away from
the more serious crimes.
 Our behaviors tend to reflect those in the higher social
strata.