1. Chapter 9
Excuses

2. Chapter Summary Excuse Defenses Insanity Defense
Diminished Responsibility
Age
Duress
Mistake of Law
Mistake of Fact
Entrapment
New Defenses
Lippman, Contemporary Criminal Law, Second Edition

3. Introduction
Defendant acknowledges that the law has been broken, however, the defendant is not responsible.
Affirmative defense
Lippman, Contemporary Criminal Law, Second Edition

4. Insanity Defense
Defendant must show insanity at trial by offering expert testimony to the fact.
In some states, when found not-guilty by reason of insanity, defendant is committed to a mental institution until it is confirmed that defendant no longer poses a danger to society.
Civil commitment hearings are often conducted to determine defendant’s danger to society.
Lippman, Contemporary Criminal Law, Second Edition

5. Insanity Defense, cont. This defense is important for three reasons
to ensure only those with free will are punished
it would be cruel to seek retribution against those unable to control their actions
such an individual may still pose a danger to society and thus need professional treatment
Insanity defense is distinct from a determination of competency to stand trial.
Lippman, Contemporary Criminal Law, Second Edition

6. Tests for Insanity M’Naghten Rule Irresistible Impulse Test
used by most states and the federal government
defendant, at the time of the crime, suffered from such a defect of reason that defendant :did not know what defendant was doing” or “did not know right from wrong”
Irresistible Impulse Test
a “disease of the mind” caused defendant to not know right from wrong, destroyed defendant’s free will, and was the sole cause of the act
Lippman, Contemporary Criminal Law, Second Edition

7. Tests for Insanity, cont.
Durham Product Test
the act was a product of a mental disease or defect
Model Penal Code Standard (Substantial Capacity Test)
defendant lacks the capacity to appreciate the criminality of conduct or to conform to conduct required by law
Lippman, Contemporary Criminal Law, Second Edition

8. Legal Equation
Lippman, Contemporary Criminal Law, Second Edition

9. Legal Equation
Lippman, Contemporary Criminal Law, Second Edition

10. Legal Equation
Lippman, Contemporary Criminal Law, Second Edition

11. Legal Equation
Lippman, Contemporary Criminal Law, Second Edition

12. Criticisms of Insanity Defense
Biased for wealthy defendants
Goes against theories of punishment
A fine line exists between sanity and insanity
Psychological experts often give conflicting testimony using technical jargon that can be confusing for jurors
Lippman, Contemporary Criminal Law, Second Edition

13. Diminished Responsibility
Some defendants have the right to demonstrate a lack of capacity to form required intent.
Voluntary intoxication can serve as a slight mitigating factor, in some states.
Many states have returned to the common law rule that intoxication is no defense.
Lippman, Contemporary Criminal Law, Second Edition

14. Involuntary Intoxication
Serves as a defense insomuch as it is applied to the jurisdiction’s test for insanity
Can occur by means of duress, mistake, fraud, or medication
Lippman, Contemporary Criminal Law, Second Edition

15. Age
Common law recognized three categories of increasing responsibility
Under seven years lack capacity to form intent
Between seven and fourteen assumed to lack capacity, but is rebuttable at court
Over fourteen possess adult capacity
Lippman, Contemporary Criminal Law, Second Edition

16. Duress
Common law excused guilt from those who committed a crime to avoid imminent death or bodily harm.
People cannot be expected to act in a heroic fashion or resist threats of death or serious bodily harm.
Those who commit crime in response to a severe threat lack intent.
Those who commit crime under duress act in an involuntary manner.
Lippman, Contemporary Criminal Law, Second Edition

17. Legal Equation
Lippman, Contemporary Criminal Law, Second Edition

18. Mistake of Law
Ignorantia lexis non excusat, “ignorance of the law is no excuse.”
People are expected to know the law.
Ignorance may falsely be claimed.
Individuals cannot be permitted to define the law, themselves.
Notice of new laws must be given to citizens.
Lippman, Contemporary Criminal Law, Second Edition

19. Mistake of Fact Model Penal Code
“ignorance or mistake is a defense when it negates the existence of a state of mind that is essential to the commission of an offense”
Mistake must be honest and in good faith.
Lippman, Contemporary Criminal Law, Second Edition

20. Legal Equation
Lippman, Contemporary Criminal Law, Second Edition

21. Entrapment
Conception and planning of an offense by an officer, and his procurement of its commission by one who would not have perpetrated it except by the trickers, persuasion, or fraud of the officer
Lippman, Contemporary Criminal Law, Second Edition

22. Tests for Entrapment Subjective Objective focuses on the defendant
did defendant possess a predisposition to commit the crime whether or not the government created the offense
Objective
focuses on the conduct of the government
did the conduct of the government fall below standards to which common feelings respond
Lippman, Contemporary Criminal Law, Second Edition

23. Legal Equation
Lippman, Contemporary Criminal Law, Second Edition

24. New Defenses Abuse XXY Chromosome PMS Postpartum Psychosis
battered wife or child
the criminal act was a result of abuse
XXY Chromosome
PMS
Postpartum Psychosis
Environmental
Lippman, Contemporary Criminal Law, Second Edition

25. New Sociological Defenses
Black Rage
Urban Survivor
Media Intoxication
Rotten Social Background
Lippman, Contemporary Criminal Law, Second Edition

26. Cultural Defenses
The defendant’s native culture allows activity that is illegal in the Unites States
Typically unsuccessful at trial
Lippman, Contemporary Criminal Law, Second Edition