American Criminal Law
Final Test Solutions
Course Introduction
American Criminal Law examines the fundamental principles, doctrines, and procedures that underpin the criminal justice system in the United States. The course explores the sources and classifications of criminal law, the elements of major crimes, and the constitutional safeguards afforded to individuals accused of criminal conduct. Topics include the roles of law enforcement, the adjudication process, criminal responsibility and defenses, sentencing, and the impact of landmark Supreme Court decisions. Through case studies and analysis of statutes, students will gain a solid understanding of how criminal law operates in practice and the balance between societal interests and individual rights.
Recommended Textbook
Criminal Law 12th Edition by Joel Samaha
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13 Chapters
1364 Verified Questions
1364 Flashcards
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Page 2
Chapter 1: Criminal Law and Punishment in Ussociety: An Overview
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105 Verified Questions
105 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The criminal law imagination refers to the contributions of law,history,philosophy,the social sciences,and sometimes biology to explain:
A) the moral desires we wish to impose on the world
B) the moral desires we wish to impose on the poor
C) the moral desires we wish to impose on the uneducated
D) none of these answers is correct
Answer: A
Q2) The principle of utility permits only the minimum amount of pain necessary in order to prevent crime.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q3) Who has the burden of proof regarding criminal conduct?
A) the judge
B) the jury
C) the defense
D) the prosecution
Answer: D
Q4) Criminal law is established by__________________ representatives.
Answer: elected
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Chapter 2: Constitutional Limits on Criminal Law
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following rights is a fundamental right but is not named in the Constitution?
A) the right to bear arms
B) the right to free speech
C) the right to freedom of religion
D) the right to privacy
Answer: D
Q2) Expost facto laws are included in Article II of the U.S.Constitution.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q3) In which case did the Supreme Court rule that it violates the Constitution to execute a mentally retarded criminal defendant?
A) Penry v.Lynaugh (1989)
B) Coker v.Georgia (1977)
C) Roper v.Simmons (2005)
D) Atkins v.Virginia (2002)
Answer: D
Q4) Cruel and unusual punishment is prohibited by the Amendment.
Answer: Eighth
Page 4
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Chapter 3: The Criminal Act: The First Principle of Criminal Liability
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105 Verified Questions
105 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) If John were the parent of one of the children,why might he be criminally liable?
A) because of a statutory responsibility
B) because of a special relationship
C) because of a contractual responsibility
D) because of a constitutional responsibility
Answer: B
Q2) What term refers to the physical element of a crime?
A) mens rea
B) actus reus
C) corpus delicti
D) criminal liability
Answer: B
Q3) Which of the following is the most prominent result crime?
A) criminal homicide
B) criminal manslaughter
C) criminal rape
D) criminal voyeurism
Answer: A
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Chapter 4: The General Principles of Criminal Liability: Mens
Rea, Concurrence, Ignorance, and Mistake
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Sample Questions
Q1) Criminal liability without subjective or objective fault is also called A) strict liability.
B) harm causation.
C) offending behavior.
D) wanton liability.
Q2) According to the Model Penal Code,what is the most blameworthy mental state? A) purposely B) knowingly C) recklessly
D) negligently
Q3) Most serious crimes require criminal and a criminal act.
Q4) The mental element of a crime is called the A) mens rea. B) harm.
C) actus reus.
D) concurrence.
Q5) The ignorance maxim means that everyone is presumed to know the law. A)True B)False
Q6) Culpability is also known as . Page 6
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Page 7
Chapter 5: Defenses to Criminal Liability I: Justifications
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Sample Questions
Q1) Self-defense is a limited exception to the government on the use of force.
Q2) Which doctrine holds that a person does not have to retreat if he or she didn't start the fight,even if it is safely possible?
A) the stand-your-ground rule
B) the self-defense rule
C) the preemptive-strike rule
D) the self-preservation rule
Q3) In some cases necessity refers to an imminent danger of attack.
A)True
B)False
Q4) What state passed the first new castle doctrine?
A) California
B) Ohio
C) Oregon
D) Florida
Q5) Some self-defense statutes allow you to kill someone you reasonably believe is about to commit a serious felony against you that doesn't threaten either your life or serious bodily injury.
A)True
B)False
8
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Chapter 6: Defenses to Criminal Liability II: Excuses
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Sample Questions
Q1) Discuss the difference between insanity and competency when proving the affirmative defense of insanity.What two times are critical?
Q2) Diminished capacity is an affirmative defense in the sense that it excuses criminal conduct.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Which of the following is an obstacle to proving the premenstrual syndrome (PMS)defense?
A) the defendant has to prove that PMS is a disease
B) the defendant has to suffer from PMS
C) the PMS has to cause the mental impairment that excuses the conduct
D) all of these answers are obstacles to proving the PMS defense
Q4) A number of myths exist regarding the insanity defense.Discuss some of these myths and provide your own explanation as to why these myths exist.
Q5) Defendants who plead the insanity defense successfully
A) go free.
B) face civil commitment.
C) go to jail instead of prison.
D) face community service.
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Chapter 7: Parties to Crime and Vicarious Liability
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Sample Questions
Q1) ___________ is an agreement to commit some other crime.
Q2) In U.S.v.Peoni,the court ruled that accomplice liability also requires proof of intent that the offender committed the crime.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Which of the following cases involved Enron and an accounting firm that was convicted of obstructing the Securities and Exchange Commission?
A) U.S.v.Arthur Andersen,LLP (2004)
B) Railroad Company v.United States (1909)
C) State v.Zeta Chi Fraternity (1997)
D) Dunn v.Commonwealth (1997)
Q4) liability is less blameworthy than participation in the crime itself.
Q5) Complicity applies criminal liability to accomplices and accessories because they participate in crimes.
A)True
B)False
Q6) Corporations can be vicariously liable for the criminal acts of their employees.
A)True
B)False
Page 10
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Chapter 8: Inchoate Crimes
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104 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) What test of criminal actus reus is concerned with whether defendants have control of everything they need to commit the crime?
A) the indispensable element test
B) the dangerous proximity test
C) the unequivocality test
D) the all but the last act test
Q2) Sanchez is in violation of what act?
A) the RICO Act
B) the TAX Act
C) the STAMP Act
D) the Racketeering and Munitions Act
Q3) A statute that addresses the crime of attempted rape would fall into which of the following categories?
A) a specific attempt statute
B) a general attempt statute
C) dealing RICO statute
D) a solicitation statute
Q4) The heart of is the agreement between two or more people to commit a crime.
Q5) RICO makes criminal enterprise or illicit activity that is run like a illegal.
Q6) RICO stands for Racketeer Influenced and____________ Organizations.
Page 11
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Chapter 9: Crimes Against Persons I: Murder and Manslaughter
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Sample Questions
Q1) Some state legislatures have created a crime specifically to address the killing of an unborn child.What is the name given to this crime?
A) Feticide
B) fetus murder
C) Infanticide
D) fetus manslaughter
Q2) Killing without malice aforethought is manslaughter.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Why was the crime of murder divided into first and second degree?
A) to allow some offenders to claim "benefit of clergy"
B) to make it easier for states to convict murderers
C) to prevent murderers from escaping
D) to separate murders that deserve the death penalty from those that do not
Q4) What crime has Bob committed?
A) first-degree murder
B) involuntary manslaughter
C) voluntary manslaughter
D) second-degree murder
Q5) Adequate provocation has to trigger the killing of another person.
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Chapter 10: Crimes Against Persons II: Sex Offenses, bodily
Injury, and Personal Restraint
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Sample Questions
Q1) Explain how rape can be accomplished without any actual force.How does the threat of force substitute for actual force? What satisfies the requirement of threat of force?
Q2) Rape law reform began seriously in the 1970s.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Modern interpretations of the asportation actus reus in the crime of kidnapping
A) hold that the victim must be carried several miles away from the place where he or she was seized.
B) require that the victim be taken across county lines.
C) have made the requirement meaningless.
D) have been removed from most statutes.
Q4) Voluntary and knowing consensual sexual behavior between two adults is legal,healthy,and desired.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Common law rape required both lack of consent and force or threat of force.
A)True
B)False
Q6) Simple assaults are generally classified as ____________.
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Chapter 11: Crimes Against Property
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Sample Questions
Q1) There are how many types of cybercrimes?
A) two
B) three
C) four
D) five
Q2) Criminal mischief descends from a common law crime,the misdemeanor called
A) malicious mischief.
B) malicious malfeasance.
C) malicious waywardness.
D) malicious disobedience.
Q3) For common law burglary,a circumstance element was that the crime occurred at night.
A)True
B)False
Q4) White-collar crimes are crimes generally related to A) occupation.
B) drug addiction.
C) attitude.
D) recklessness.
Q5) A whole new vocabulary has grown up to describe the ways hackers commit .
Page 14
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Chapter 12: Crimes Against Public Order and Morals
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Sample Questions
Q1) Loitering and vagrancy laws were frequently found unconstitutional under the void-for-____________ doctrine.
Q2) "Quality of life" crimes refer to laws that are meant to control bad behavior in what location?
A) schools
B) public places
C) homes
D) government buildings
Q3) Discuss the issues surrounding panhandling legislation.Be sure to discuss the tension between order and liberty in creating laws regarding behavior such as panhandling.
Q4) The Court has established a number of tests to determine whether ordinances violate the First Amendment guarantee of free speech.Which of the following is one of those tests?
A) to look at the place where the speech takes place
B) to look at who is speaking
C) to look at what is being said
D) to look at why the speech takes place
Q5) What are victimless crimes,and why are they controversial? Be sure to provide examples.
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Chapter 13: Crimes Against the State
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Sample Questions
Q1) Treason is the only crime aimed at combating disloyalty and keeping the allegiance of our citizens.
A)True
B)False
Q2) The federal crime of providing "training," "expert advice or assistance," "service," and "personnel" to terrorists or terrorist organizations is what offense?
A) material support
B) assault
C) disloyalty
D) rioting
Q3) Damaging or destroying government property to hinder national defense is called____________.
Q4) Advocating the violent overthrow of the government is called sedition.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Explain what it means to provide material support to terrorists according to the USA PATRIOT Act.
Q6) Define the term "sedition" and provide examples.What are the two main forms of seditious communications?
Page 16
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