CJL 2400 CRIMINAL LAW EXAM QUESTIONS WITH VERIFIED ANSWERS LATEST UPDATE 2026

CJL 2400 CRIMINAL LAW EXAM QUESTIONS WITH VERIFIED ANSWERS LATEST UPDATE 2026 Case 1.2 Sally is accused of stealing some checks from her boss. She is found not guilty of any criminal wrong at trial. Her boss sues her and receives a judgment ordering Sally to pay her for the amount lost from the stolen checks. Sally's boss received a judgment for money because of what difference between criminal and noncriminal wrongs? - Answers The burden of proof is higher for criminal wrongs than for noncriminal wrongs. The burden of proof is lower for criminal wrongs than for noncriminal wrongs. (wrong) The burden of proof is equal for criminal wrongs than for noncriminal wrongs. None of these answers is correct. When an appellate court overturns the decision of a trial court and sends the case back for further proceedings in accord with its decision, the appeals court has - Answers reversed the trial court's decision. (wrong) affirmed the trial court's decision. reversed and remanded the trial court's decision. declined the trial court's decision. To qualify as criminal punishment, penalties have to meet four criteria. - Answers true Crimes and torts represent two different ways our legal system responds to social and individual harm. - Answers true What are some of the reasons that the American Law Institute created the Model Penal Code? - Answers clarification and simplification Case citations always follow the same order. - Answers true An offense which is punishable by one year or more in a state prison is called a - Answers felony Case 1.2 Sally is accused of stealing some checks from her boss. She is found not guilty of any criminal wrong at trial. Her boss sues her and receives a judgment ordering Sally to pay her for the amount lost from the stolen checks. Of the following categories, what one can we say with certainty is an appropriate classification for the theft of the checks? - Answers mala in se mala prohibita misdemeanor. (wrong) felony Core felonies include which of the following? - Answers murder manslaughter rape all of these are core felonies To obtain a conviction, the prosecution must prove every element of the offense - Answers beyond a reasonable doubt Which of the following power(s) lower the cost of convicting criminal defendants? - Answers he power to charge and to plea bargain Expost facto laws are included in Article II of the U.S. Constitution. - Answers false There is no Constitutional right to privacy. - Answers false According to the U.S. Supreme Court, California's three-strikes law - Answers does not violate the Eighth Amendment. Explain the principle of legality. Why is it important to criminal law and punishment? - Answers principle of legality refers to a principle that a person may not be prosecuted under a criminal law that has not been previously published. Before a man can be punished as a criminal under the law, his case must be 'plainly and unmistakably' within the provisions of some statute. Which amendments to the Constitution resulted in the void-for-vagueness doctrine? - Answers the Fourth and Fifth Amendments Cruel and unusual punishment is prohibited by the Amendment. - Answers eighth (wrong) Which of the following categories of expression is not protected by the First Amendment? - Answers obscenity libel fighting words none of these What is the definition of preponderance of the evidence? - Answers more than 50% The principle of legality is also called "the first principle of criminal law." - Answers true Most of the debate regarding three-strikes law centers on: - Answers deterrence What is the standard used by courts of appeal to determine if a sentence is "inside, just outside, or significantly outside the guidelines range?" - Answers the abuse-of-discretion standard Case 2.1 Julie has been drinking at a bar for several hours. As she is driving home she runs off the road and hits a pregnant woman, killing the fetus but not the woman. Julie is charged with homicide. The homicide law where Julie lives does not include the unborn in its homicide statute. If Julie was convicted the court would have violated the ban on - Answers ex post facto laws. The authors of the U.S. Constitution were suspicious of - Answers the power in the hands of government officials. In Robinson v. California, the Supreme Court stated that it would be cruel and unusual punishment to punish someone for a disease or illness. - Answers true Crimes that include only a criminal act are rare. - Answers true Case 3.1 Bill is leaving work when a co-worker asks him to drop off a package at the post office on his way home. The co-worker explains that he must work late and can't get to the post office before it closes. Bill stops at the post office and is met by police officers with drug-sniffing canines who discover the package his co-worker gave him contains cocaine. Bill would not be guilty of a crime in most states, because most states require - Answers mere possession The law recognizes only actual, constructive, and knowing possession. - Answers false Which of the following is a status that is voluntary? - Answers sex(wrong) The general principle of actus reus includes a voluntary act. - Answers true Those crimes requiring a criminal act triggered by criminal intent are - Answers conduct crimes. A legal fiction turns what into an act, although it is really a passive state? - Answers legal duty(wrong) The actus reus serves which of the following purposes? - Answers actus reus serves all of these purposes A parent-child relationship is an example of a "special relationship." - Answers true What type of possession is required by most states before an act can be criminalized? - Answers knowing Explain the "voluntary" act requirement. How does this impact crimes that are committed when a person is in a state of automatism? - Answers There are two kinds of criminal omission: failure to act and - Answers failure to intervene. Case 4.2 Stephanie asks her friend Ahmad to accompany her to her ex-boyfriend Tom's home so that she may gather some of her belongings. Ahmad does not like Tom and decides to teach him a lesson. He follows Stephanie inside and stabs Tom with a knife. Which of the mental states identified in the Model Penal Code best applies to Ahmad? - Answers purposely Fault that requires a bad mind in the actor is - Answers subjective fault According to the Model Penal Code, what is the most blameworthy mental state? - Answers purposely Specific intent applies only to what type of crimes? - Answers bad intent crimes(wrong ) strict liability. - Answers Liability without fault, or in the absence of mens rea, is called The element of causation applies only to what type of crimes? - Answers "bad result" crimes Fault that requires no purposeful or conscious bad mind in the actor is - Answers subjective fault (wrong) Recklessness involves conscious _______________ creation. - Answers risk What are the four types of culpability in the Model Penal Code? Be sure to provide examples. What are the levels of culpability of each relative to the other? - Answers The most common definition of specific intent is - Answers a. general intent plus. There are differences in culpability among the Model Penal Code's (MPC) four mental states—purposely, , recklessly, and negligently. - Answers knowingly A crime without an intent element is called a strict_______________ crime. - Answers strict liability (wrong) Defenders can use deadly force only if they reasonably believe it's necessary to repel an deadly attack. - Answers imminent The "New Castle Doctrine" laws are transforming the law of self-defense. - Answers true 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. - Answers true The case of The Queen v. Dudley and Stephens (1884) involves which defense? - Answers imminent necessity An imperfect defense, such as imperfect self-defense, may, in some jurisdictions, reduce a murder to manslaughter. - Answers true The Personal Protection Law (2009) became the model for most of the new castle laws. - Answers florida A victim of domestic violence is justified in shooting her cohabitant husband while he is asleep. - Answers false "Inevitable" harm is the same as "imminent" harm. - Answers false The concept of retreat has undergone historic transformation since the English common-law requirement that one "retreat to the wall." Explain this transformation and how it's altering the stand-your-ground rule and the retreat rule. - Answers In the minority of states that follow the retreat rule there are usually two exceptions. Identify and explain these two exceptions. - Answers Case 5.2 Vincent is awoken in the middle of the night by a sound outside his house. He takes a loaded .38 pistol from his nightstand and proceeds downstairs to his kitchen to check on the noise. He encounters a stranger in his kitchen. The stranger hits him in the face knocking him to the floor. As he gets up his see the man running out his kitchen door. Vincent shoots the man through the kitchen door. Why is Vincent not justified in shooting the man? - Answers The defense of consent represents the high value placed on individual in a free society. - Answers autonomy Self-defense is a limited exception to the government on the use of force. - Answers monopoly Many defendants plead the insanity defense. - Answers false The substantial capacity test is supposed to remove the objections to the right-wrong test. - Answers true At common law, voluntary intoxication was not a defense. - Answers true States vary as to who has to prove insanity and how convincingly they have to do so. - Answers true The common law divided children into how many categories for determining their capacity to commit crimes? - Answers three The defense of voluntary intoxication is buffeted between two conflicting principles: accountability and - Answers culpability. Which war led to the defense of post-traumatic stress disorder defense (PTSD)? - Answers the Vietnam War Voluntary intoxication is no excuse for committing a crime but involuntary intoxication is. Explain why this is the case. Be sure to include a discussion of accountability and culpability. - Answers Most states reject diminished capacity. - Answers true In most jurisdictions, to establish the duress defense, the defendant must show that the threat of harm against him or her was - Answers imminent. The entrapment defense arose primarily in response to police excesses in enforcing what laws? - Answers consensual crime With an affirmative defense, defendants have to carry some of the burden of proving they have an excuse that will relieve them of criminal responsibility. - Answers true After the adoption of the Model Penal Code in 1962, more than 40 states changed their criminal codes. - Answers true Case 1.2 Sally is accused of stealing some checks from her boss. She is found not guilty of any criminal wrong at trial. Her boss sues her and receives a judgment ordering Sally to pay her for the amount lost from the stolen checks. Of the following categories, what one can we say with certainty is an appropriate classification for the theft of the checks? - Answers mala prohibita Crimes and torts are similar in which of the following ways? - Answers They both tell us what we can and can't do. An offense which is punishable by one year or more in a state prison is called a - Answers felony To qualify as criminal punishment, penalties have to meet four criteria. - Answers true Both federal and state legislatures frequently grant______________agencies the authority to make rules. - Answers administrative Case 1.1 Stan robs a woman while she is walking home from work. Police later identify Stan as the robber and he is arrested. Stan is found guilty of robbery and is sentenced to one year in jail. During sentencing the judge notes that his reasoning for the sentence is that being in jail will keep Stan from robbing any other people and he wants to set an example for others. Preventing Stan from committing other robberies by putting him in jail is an example of what purpose for punishment? Group of answer choices - Answers . incapacitation Vague laws violate the due process protections of the Fifth and Fourteen Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. Explain how these laws violate due process protections. - Answers The Eighth Amendment prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. Discuss the opinions in the following cases regarding the courts application of the prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment to the death penalty. Kennedy v. Louisiana (2008), Atkins v. Virginia (2002), Roper v. Simmons (2005). - Answers Three-strikes laws are supposed to make sure that offenders who are convicted of a third felony - Answers get locked up for at least 10 years.(wrong) What rule requires that any fact that increases the penalty for a crime beyond the prescribed statutory maximum must be submitted to a jury, and proved beyond a reasonable doubt? Group of answer choices - Answers The Apprendi rule Discuss the importance of the right to a trial by jury as it relates to the process of sentencing convicted offenders. Discuss the impact of Apprendi v. New Jersey (2000). - Answers What article of the U.S. Constitution bans ex post facto laws? - Answers Article One The void-for-overbreadth doctrine invalidates laws that have what effect on protected expression? - Answers an unacceptable chilling effect The Constitution bans pure status as a basis for - Answers criminal liability. The mens _______________is the mental element of the crime. - Answers Mental state (Mens rea) The law recognizes only actual, constructive, and knowing possession. - Answers false