1. Chapter 4-1 Our Criminal Laws

3. Goals Define the elements present in all crimes
Describe crimes that commonly occur in the business environment

4. What are crimes? Punishable offense against society
Defined by statutes (laws enacted by state or federal legislatures)
Society (through police/prosecutors) attempt to identify, arrest, prosecute, and punish the criminal
Criminal and civil offenses are not the same
Civil - against just the victim (not society)

5. Elements of a Crime
Before anyone can be convicted of a crime, 3 elements must be proved at trial
a duty to do or not to do a certain thing
an act or omission in violation of that duty
criminal intent

6. Elements of a Crime

7. Duty State statutes usually describe duty
Less frequent - federal statutes or city ordinances
To establish duty in trial, the prosecutor cites a statute to the judge

8. Violation of the Duty
The specific conduct that violates the statute is the criminal act
All states have statutes that makes battery a crime
“the intentional causing of bodily harm to another person”
Prove?
Testimony of a witness

9. Criminal Intent Means the defendant: Deliberately punch someone
intended to commit the act and
intended to do evil
Deliberately punch someone
Accidentally fall and hit someone

10. Criminal Intent (cont)
Can Corporations form criminal intent like humans can?
YES
If the criminal act benefits the organization, most courts will find criminal intent
When a corporate employee commits a crime, can officers be held criminally responsible?
Liable under the doctrine of vicarious criminal liability

11. Criminal Intent (cont)
Vicarious Criminal Liability
Substituted criminal liability
The criminal intent of the employee is used as a substitute for the requirements of criminal intent for an officer
The president knows of dangerous working conditions but does not report them
Homicide

12. Criminal Intent (cont)
Related to age (early common law)
Under 10 – below the age of reason
Incapable of having the criminal intent necessary
Over 14 – know the difference between right and wrong
Accountable as adults
Ages 7-14 criminal intent has to be proved
Today, most states fix the age to 18 (range from 16-19)

13. Criminal Intent (cont)
One must have sufficient mental capacity to know the difference between right and wrong
Insane person
Not held responsible
Voluntary intoxication or use of drugs does not relieve a person

14. Criminal Intent (cont)
Not all crimes require criminal intent
Less serious crimes where being sentenced to jail is unlikely
Traffic offenses
Exception – extreme carelessness
80mph through a neighborhood drunk and kill someone
You may not have intended to speed or do evil
So careless it could be treated as criminal intent
Vehicular homicide

15. Criminal Intent (cont)
Embezzlement
Taking of another person’s property or money by a person to whom it has been entrusted

16. Criminal Conduct Crimes against:
A person (assault and battery, kidnapping, rape, murder)
Property (theft, robbery embezzlement)
The government and administration of justice (treason, tax invasion, perjury)
Public peace and order (rioting, disorderly conduct, illegal speeding)
Realty (burglary, arson, criminal trespass)
Consumers (fraudulent sale of securities, violation of pure food and drug laws)
Decency (bigamy, obscenity, prostitution)

17. Classification of Crimes
Felonies
Crime punishable by confinement for more than a year in a state prison or by a fine or more than $1,000, or both – or even death
Murder, kidnapping, arson, rape, robbery, burglary, embezzlement, forgery, theft of large sums, and perjury
Perjury
Crime of lying under oath

18. Classification of Crimes (cont)
Misdemeanor
Less serious crime
Punishable by confinement in a county or city jail for less than one year, by fine, or both
Disorderly conduct and speeding
Infractions
Minor misdemeanor
Can only be fined (no risk of jail)
Parking violations and littering

19. Business-Related Crimes
White-collar crimes
Offenses committed in the business world
No not involve force or violence
Do not cause injury to people or cause physical damage to property
Examples
Evading income taxes, defrauding consumers, cheating with false weighing machines, conspiring to fix prices, false insurance claims, false advertising, committing bribery, engaging in political corruption, and embezzling
Fines and short prison sentences because no physical violence

20. Business-Related Crimes (cont)
Antitrust Laws
Laws that prohibit competing companies from price fixing or dividing up sales regions

21. Business-Related Crimes (cont)
Larceny (theft)
The wrongful taking of money or personal property belonging to someone else, with the intent to deprive the owner of possession
Shoplifting, pickpocketing, and purse snatching
Felony or Misdemeanor (determined by value of property)
Robbery (variation of larceny)
The taking of property from another’s person or immediate presence, against the victim’s will, by force or by causing fear
Burglary (variation of larceny)
Entering a building without permission when intending to commit a crime
FELONIES

22. Business-Related Crimes (cont)
Receiving stolen property
the one who receives stolen property is known as a fence
False Pretense – One who obtains money or other property by lying about a past or existing fact (type of fraud)
Forgery – falsely making or materially altering a writing to defraud another (felony)
Bribery – unlawfully offering or giving anything of value to influence performance of an official (accepting a bribe is also criminal activity)

23. Business-Related Crimes (cont)
Computer crime
Extortion (blackmail) – obtaining money or other property from a person by wrongful use of force, fear, or the power of office
Conspiracy – an agreement between two or more persons to commit a crime
The conspiracy is a separate crime from the crime that the parties plan to commit
Arson – The willful and illegal burning of a building

24. CheckPoint
What three elements must be proven at trial before someone can be convicted of a crime?
Name the of crimes classified by the s potential sentences.
Name the types of business-related crimes.

25. Legal Research
Search the Internet for state and federal laws that prohibit computer-related crimes. An example would be to research electronic identity theft in all its forms from credit card fraud to invasion of accounts.

26. New Jersey CRIMINAL Law MYSTERY game
Who Can Solve The Mystery Crime?

27. SCENARIO
The Buzz in the NJ underground is that something big has just gone down. A HORRIBLE crime has just happened and all the “NJ Mob Bosses” are talking about it. However, the police have not caught on. One thing is for sure though: None of the Bosses wants to get blamed when the police figure things out. Here is where you come in!
Your team members and you are all part of a private investigator firm that is highly competitive with other firms in the Seattle area. Your firm prides itself on being able to find anyone or solve any case before anyone else.
Each of your firms has been approached by a different “Mob Boss” who wants you to get all the information on this crime first so they can go to the police and see if they can clear their own name and get on the Fuzz’s good side (or use the information as leverage).

28. Getting Started
Draw your confidential client cards and share them ONLY amongst your team members. These cards will include:
Mob Boss Card: The mobster who has offered you a handsome fee. They will provide you with their alibi, showing that they could not have committed the mystery crime.
Neighborhood Information Card: Your client has “eyes” around certain neighborhoods and can offer some special information what has been happening in one of those neighborhoods.
Crime “Tipster” Cards: Anonymous tipsters can help supply information about crimes that helps to narrow the investigation. Your “Mob Boss” has supplied you with two such tips (Either the the physical act of the crime or person's awareness of the fact that his/her conduct is criminal elements of a crime).

29. RULES OF THE GAME
The moderators have the confidential case file which contains the ACTUAL identity of the responsible Mob Boss, the exact crime, and the location where it took place with them.
THAT means all the game cards that have been distributed to the various teams indicate the persons, locations, and crimes that are NOT part of the solution to this mystery case.
As you gain information each round based on your own cards AND tips you learn from other teams, you should cross those answers out on your Game Sheet.

30. RULES OF THE GAME
The first team to completely narrow down the possible suspects, neighborhood, and crime brings their worksheet to the moderator. If they have ALL the information correct, the moderator will end the game. If not, the moderators will not say anything and continue the rounds.
Each individual on a team should be assigned BEFORE the investigation starts to go “undercover” and infiltrate one of the competing Private Eye Firms.

31. RULES CONTINUED
Each round teams send 1 member to meet up with his or her assigned undercover firm (starting with the nearest moving clockwise around the room).
The rest of the team remains. While “undercover” the “informant” member makes a guess about the solution to the game that includes 3 PIECES of information. Each piece of info can be EITHER
(1) who they think committed the crime, OR
(2) where the crime was committed, OR
(3) which crime was committed (CONSIDER CONSPIRACY SEPARATELY from the underlying crime).

32. RULES CONTINUED
Guesses do not need to include one of each of these and can include any variation of the three.
If the responding firm has a card with information about ANY part of the “undercover” member’s guess, they MUST quietly SHOW that individual 1 of the cards.
The firm needs to ONLY show the undercover person 1 card. If the firm possesses NO information about any of the guesses, they only need to say “Sorry, we don’t have that information.”
The informant then returns to their team updates their worksheets.

33. RULES CONTINUED
After everyone has had the chance to be an informant and returned to their own firm, the moderators will quickly ask the class a trivia question based on past StreetLaw lessons. The first team to raise their hand and provide a CORRECT answer will get to see one of the extra game cards that the moderators are holding.
After the trivia question, the next round will start and the “Private Eye” firms will send off their next informant.
TEAMS WILL NOW DRAW THEIR GAME CARDS.
Each person has a game worksheet by now and each group should discuss their strategies and game cards prior to starting. Each person should be independently filling out their worksheet as the rounds progress and MAKING SURE THAT OTHER FIRMS DO NOT SEE THAT INFORMATION WHILE MOVING AROUND.