Chapter 15 Part 1 Substantive Criminal Law

Substantive Criminal Law

Your chapter discusses the types of crimes, the requirements for a criminal act ( actus reus and mens rea), and the defenses. It does not discuss some of the acts that constitute criminal behavior. In the brief assignments that I will give you I would like you to be aware of the actions, as well as, the mens rea required to make an individual criminally responsible.

Treason

Although your chapter does not mention treason I feel it is important to discuss that treason is the highest crime a person can commit. In the legal research chapter I had you find treason in the United States Code. There have been many treason cases in the history of the United States but recently it seems as though we have had more than usual.

	Read the information concerning the Rosenberg Spy Trial.
	Find and read an article about Mrs. Rosenberg's brother coming forward to admit that he hadn't told the truth.
	Pay particular attention to the court decisions in the trial.
	Fully answer the following questions . What was the original statute they were charged with violating? Give a brief history of the various court decisions. What did you think of Judge Kaufman's sentencing statement? Write a brief synopsis of your opinion of the trial and the outcome based on your readings at this website. What is your opinion of the brother's actions regarding this case.
	Just so you know the brother has now said that he lied about his sister in order to save his own family.
	Insert it into the Criminal Law section of the Paralegal Reference Manual.

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Actus Reus

At common law there were only 9 felonies. The original felonies are remembered by calling them Mr. and Mrs. Lamb. They were murder, rape, manslaughter, robbery, sodomy, larceny, arson, mayhem, and burglary. Today most criminal behavior is defined by statutory law and further divided into categories or classifications. The criminal law for the state of Maryland can be found in the Criminal Law volume of the Annotated Code of Maryland. Of course you know how to find it from the Maryland Law Library online, Lexis online, or Westlaw from campus.

	Using the Annotated Code of Maryland at the Maryland Law Library website, see if you can locate one offense in Maryland Law for each of the above crimes. You will have to be creative in the way in which you describe the crimes in order to locate them. Some are not called by the same name anymore. Feel free to use any source to find the information but eventually I would like you to find one actual statute for each of the above offenses.
	Print the statutory section that you found.
	Create a table showing each of the common law felonies in one column and an Annotated Code section where you found the offense.
	Make sure the Annotated Code section is formatted properly.
	Insert your answer into the Criminal Law section of the Paralegal Reference Manual.

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Mens Rea

There are generally three things that will cause a person not to be able to form the requisite mental state or mens rea to commit a crime. Historically they have been called infancy, intoxication and insanity. Just so you are aware of the Maryland Rule for criminal insanity I would like you to look it up. You will find it in the Health - General volume of the Annotated Code of Maryland §12-108.

	Read the section.
	Insert your answer into the Criminal Law section of the Paralegal Reference Manual.

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Introduction to Paralegal Studies Substantive Criminal Law

Introduction to Paralegal Studies
Substantive Criminal Law