LEARNING OBJECTIVES
- Describe one important function of criminal intent.
- List the three common-law criminal intents, ranking them in order of culpability.
- Compare specific and general intent.
- Describe an inference that makes it easier for the prosecution to prove a general intent crime.
- Differentiate between motive and criminal intent.
- List and define the Model Penal Code mental states, ranking them in order of culpability.
- Identify an exception to the requirement that every crime contain a criminal intent element.
- Explain how transferred intent promotes justice.
- Describe the circumstances that give rise to vicarious criminal liability.
- Define concurrence of criminal act and intent.
Although there are exceptions that are discussed shortly, criminal intent or mens rea is an essential element of most crimes. Under the common law, all crimes consisted of an act carried out with a guilty mind. In modern society, criminal intent can be the basis for fault, and punishment according to intent is a core premise of criminal justice. As stated in , grading is often related to the criminal intent element. Crimes that have an “evil” intent are malumin se and subject the defendant to the most severe punishment. Crimes that lackthe intent element are less common and are usually graded lower, as either misdemeanors or infractions.
States and the federal government vary in their approach to defining criminal intent, and each jurisdiction describes the criminal intent element in a criminal statute, or case, in jurisdictions that allow common-law crimes. In this section, common-law definitions of criminal intent are explored, along with definitions of the criminal mental states in the Model Penal Code.
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