Deck 6: Defenses to Crimes

Question 1

____________ is NOT a justification for a woman who kills a battering husband.Which of the following is NOT a justification?

A)Traditional imminence and reasonableness requirements
B)Traditional questioning about the wife's chastity
C)Evidence of the battering behavior
D)Evidence of battered woman's syndrome

Answer 1

B

Question 2

The MPC's version of the necessity defense applies only to situations where the actor

A)kills one person to save one other.
B)makes a choice of equal evils.
C)acts to save himself at the expense of another.
D)kills a person to save several others.

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Once a defendant has been charged with a criminal offense,the prosecutor has the burden of producing evidence and proving beyond a reasonable doubt the existence of the __________ of criminal culpability.

A)two elements
B)three elements
C)four elements
D)five elements

Answer 3

C

Question 4

A defendant must prove the __________ to be acquitted of a crime because of self-defense.

A)necessity of using force (including the use of deadly force only "to prevent imminent and unlawful use of deadly force by the aggressor")
B)reasonableness of the belief that force was necessary
C)proportionality of the force to the threat (i.e.,the level of force used in self-defense cannot be excessive in light of the level of force threatened)
D)All of the above are correct.

Question 5

A defense based upon a(n)__________ renders lawful conduct that would otherwise constitute a violation of the criminal law.

A)affirmative defense
B)true defense
C)excuse
D)justification

Question 6

The MPC requires that the device must __________ to be considered a non-deadly mechanical device.

A)be designed to cause or create a substantial risk of death or serious injury
B)carry automatic ammunition and have a shroud
C)be unreasonable under the circumstances
D)be customarily used for the purpose of protection

Question 7

A problem with recognizing the right to prevent harm to another as a defense is

A)determining the category of assailants who can be stopped,and identifying situations in which the persons defended are strong enough to defend themselves.
B)determining the category of crimes that should be prevented,and identifying situations in which the assailants should be treated with lethal force.
C)determining the ways in which police could better handle the situation,and identifying situations in which the assailant's rights could be violated.
D)determining the category of persons who can be assisted,and identifying situations in which the person defended did not have a legal right to act in self-defense.

Question 8

According to the MPC provisions,an officer or private citizen may not use deadly force to prevent the commission of a crime unless he or she believes that there is

A)a possible risk that the suspect will cause the death or serious bodily injury to another person unless prevented from doing so,and that the use of deadly force presents only possible substantial risk to bystanders.
B)a substantial risk that the suspect will cause the death or serious bodily injury to another person unless prevented from doing so,and that the use of deadly force presents no substantial risk to bystanders.
C)a substantial risk that the suspect will cause the death or serious bodily injury to another person unless prevented from doing so,and that the use of deadly force presents risk to no more than two bystanders.
D)is any risk that the suspect may cause the death or serious bodily injury to another person unless prevented from doing so,and that the use of deadly force presents minimal substantial risk to bystanders.

Question 9

An excuse defense is one in which the

A)actor's conduct is criminal,but the actor is not be held morally or legally culpable.
B)actor is not able to offer a valid excuse for his or her behavior,but is still not morally or legally culpable.
C)act is such that the actor's role in the conduct is rendered lawful.
D)focus is on the act,not on the actor.

Question 10

The MPC states that __________ for the defense of another to be asserted.

A)the actor in physical proximity
B)the actor must believe that his or her action is necessary for the protection of the third person
C)the third person must have a legitimate reason for disliking the perpetrator
D)the third person must be licensed to use protective force.

Question 11

Private citizens can NOT make a citizens' arrests under the common law rule when

A)the felony crime may have occurred and the suspect looked guilty.
B)the felony crime had not yet occurred but the citizen believed the suspect committed the offense.
C)the citizen heard about the a misdemeanor that was committed.
D)the misdemeanor involves a breach of the peace,the crime actually occurred,and the citizen reasonably believed the suspect committed the offense.

Question 12

The MPC provides that consent is a defense if

A)the victim is legally incompetent to authorize consent.
B)consent is given by someone whose improvident consent is sought to be prevented by the law defining the offense.
C)such consent negatives an element of the offense or precludes the infliction of the harm or evil sought to be prevented by the law defining such an offense.
D)consent is given by a person who is unable to make a reasonable judgment.

Question 13

One circumstance in which a defendant may raise the intoxication defense when he or she voluntarily became intoxicated if

A)s/he did not have the specific state of mind that is required to be criminally culpable for that crime.
B)if intoxication caused temporary memory loss that made the defendant insane during the criminal act.
C)s/he is physically addicted to drugs or alcohol.
D)s/he did not have a correct understanding of his or her alcohol tolerance level.

Question 14

When the actor has violated a criminal statue but there is a reason for not holding him or her personally accountable,the defense is called

A)affirmative defense.
B)true defense.
C)excuse.
D)justification.

Question 15

A(n)__________ is "one that,if proved,results in the acquittal of a defendant,although the prosecutor has proved" the defendant's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

A)affirmative defense
B)true defense
C)excuse
D)justification

Question 16

The common law rule,case law,and statutes concerning self-defense require that the defendant reasonably believe that his or her adversary's unlawful violence,especially deadly force,have ____________ characteristic.

A)almost immediately forthcoming
B)imminent
C)happen at once
D)All the above are correct.

Question 17

The MPC provides that an individual can use non-deadly force to protect his or her property if the

A)force must be immediately necessary to protect the property.
B)property owner must have possession of the property in question or must be acting on behalf of someone who is in possession of the property.
C)other person's interference with the property must be unlawful.
D)None of the above is correct.

Question 18

When the defendant admits to the existence of all of the necessary legal elements for criminal liability but offers one or more legally recognized reasons why s/he should nonetheless be acquitted,it is called

A)affirmative defense.
B)true defense.
C)excuse.
D)justification.

Question 19

_________ is NOT part of the defense of duress.

A)Duress involves coercive threats from human beings
B)Necessity is related to the defense of duress
C)Duress involves coercive physical or natural circumstances
D)Duress is considered primarily an excuse,rather than a justification,defense

Question 20

A(n)__________ is NOT a noteworthy situations that could lead to a valid assertion of the duress defense under the MPC but that could not lead to a valid assertion under common law.

A)person who is brainwashed,or coerced,over time into committing an illegal act by responding to earlier threats that have rendered the actor submissive
B)person who must kill another person in order to prevent his or her own death
C)escape from prison to avoid an intolerable condition or circumstance
D)battered woman commits a crime at the suggestion of her abusive partner

Question 21

Use of deadly force by a private citizen is more restricted than for police officers,in part to prevent vigilantism.

Question 22

___________ is not a specialized extrinsic defense.

A)The statute of limitations
B)Incompetency to stand trial
C)Diplomatic immunity
D)Abandonment

Question 23

Most states,under the influence of the MPC have adopted an act-at-peril rule in which the actor can claim the defense as long as he or she uses force based on what reasonably appears necessary.

Question 24

Name the four situations in which law enforcement officers are authorized to use non-deadly force.

Question 25

The sanity of an accused can NOT be determined by the ____________ in the U.S.

A)M'Naghten (right-wrong)test
B)federal test
C)product test
D)American Law Institute test

Question 26

Mechanical devices such as warning alarms or electric fences may be used if they are reasonable and give adequate warning to the intruder that they exist.

Question 27

While there is usually no legal responsibility to provide first aid to another person,there is a very clear responsibility to continue such care once you start.

Question 28

Under common law,a person is justified in violating a criminal law if six elements are present.Name four of these.

Question 29

__________ is NOT a recognized involuntary intoxication.

A)Coerced intoxication
B)Intoxication by innocent mistake
C)Pathological intoxication
D)Intoxication by addiction

Question 30

In order to raise the claim of self-defense,a defendant needs to have an honest belief that the use and level of force used for self-protection was required and an eyewitness to that force.

Question 31

Regarding the defense of habitation,nearly all jurisdictions allow the use of deadly force only when the actor believes that the intruder intends to injure the actor or another occupant and where the deadly force is necessary to repel the intrusion.

Question 32

Duress is a form of choice of evils and,in that respect,is similar to the defense of necessity.

Question 33

Name and define the two most important categories of true defenses.

Question 34

A defense can mean any set of identifiable conditions or circumstances that may prevent a conviction for an offense.

Question 35

Necessity as a defense can be successful in producing an acquittal as long as the harm produced is equal to or less than the harm that would have occurred without the action.

Question 36

Usually,voluntary intoxication constitutes __________ for mens rea purposes.

A)negligence
B)recklessness
C)gross negligence
D)civil recklessness

Question 37

Intoxication results only from the ingestion of alcohol.

Question 38

Self-defense is universally recognized in American criminal law.

Question 39

The current trend in criminal law is to reduce rather than increase the age at which children can be held criminally responsible.

Question 40

Diminished capacity can describe a mental condition short of insanity that will exonerate the accused or lessen the crime for which s/he is convicted if the person

A)can prove pure legal impossibility.
B)can show that he or she abandoned the crime while still in a sane mental state.
C)raises the condition as a failure of proof defense,negating an element of the crime,a mens rea use of the defense.
D)raises the defense that possession forced him or her to act under duress.

Question 41

Name three of the five circumstances in which the defense of duress may be excused.

Question 42

Name four of the major legal excuses.