Texas Penal Code Exam Questions And Answers

Texas Penal Code Exam Questions And Answers Objectives of Code - answer-To insure the public safety through: (A) the deterrent influence of the penalties hereinafter provided; (B) the rehabilitation of those convicted of violations of this code; and to guide and limit the exercise of official discretion in law enforcement to prevent arbitrary or oppressive treatment of persons suspected, accused, or convicted of offenses; and (6) to define the scope of state interest in law enforcement against specific offenses and to systematize the exercise of state criminal jurisdiction. Territorial Jurisdiction - answerEither the conduct or a result that is an element of the offense occurs inside this state Computation of Age - answerA person attains a specified age on the day of the anniversary of his birth-date. Act - answerA bodily movement, whether voluntary or involuntary, and includes speech. Actor - answerA person whose criminal responsibility is in issue in a criminal action. Whenever the term "suspect" is used in this code, it means "actor." Agency - answerIncludes authority, board, bureau, commission, committee, council, department, district, division, and office. Bodily Injury - answerMeans physical pain, illness, or any impairment of physical condition. Serious Bodily Injury - answerBodily injury that creates a substantial risk of death or that causes death, serious permanent disfigurement, or protracted loss or impairment of the function of any bodily member or organ. Coercion - answerMeans a threat, however communicated: (A) to commit an offense; (B) to inflict bodily injury in the future on the person threatened or another; (C) to accuse a person of any offense; (D) to expose a person to hatred, contempt, or ridicule; (E) to harm the credit or business repute of any person; or (F) to take or withhold action as a public servant, or to cause a public servant to take or withhold action. Conduct - answerMeans an act or omission and its accompanying mental state. Correctional Facility - answerMeans a place designated by law for the confinement of a person arrested for, charged with, or convicted of a criminal offense. The term includes: (A) a municipal or county jail; (B) a confinement facility operated by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice; (C) a confinement facility operated under contract with any division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice; and (D) a community corrections facility operated by a community supervision and corrections department. Deadly Weapon - answerA firearm or anything manifestly designed, made, or adapted for the purpose of inflicting death or serious bodily injury; or (B) anything that in the manner of its use or intended use is capable of causing death or serious bodily injury. Consent - answerMeans assent in fact, whether express or apparent. Effective Consent - answerIncludes consent by a person legally authorized to act for the owner. Consent is not effective if: (A) induced by force, threat, or fraud; (B) given by a person the actor knows is not legally authorized to act for the owner; (C) given by a person who by reason of youth, mental disease or defect, or intoxication is known by the actor to be unable to make reasonable decisions; or (D) given solely to detect the commission of an offense. Element of Offense - answer(A) The forbidden conduct; (B) The required culpability; (C) Any required result; and (D) The negation of any exception to the offense. Felony - answerAn offense so designated by law or punishable by death or confinement in a penitentiary. Harm - answerAnything reasonably regarded as loss, disadvantage, or injury, including harm to another person in whose welfare the person affected is interested. Individual - answerA human being who is alive, including an unborn child at every stage of gestation from fertilization until birth. Misdemeanor - answerAn offense so designated by law or punishable by fine, by confinement in jail, or by both fine and confinement in jail. Possession - answerMeans actual care, custody, control, or management. Public Place - answerAny place to which the public or a substantial group of the public has access and includes, but is not limited to, streets, highways, and the common areas of schools, hospitals, apartment houses, office buildings, transport facilities, and shops. Public Servant - answerA person elected, selected, appointed, employed, or otherwise designated as one of the following, even if he has not yet qualified for office or assumed his duties: (A) an officer, employee, or agent of government; (B) a juror or grand juror; or (C) an arbitrator, referee, or other person who is authorized by law or private written agreement to hear or determine a cause or controversy; or (D) an attorney at law or notary public when participating in the performance of a governmental function; or (E) a candidate for nomination or election to public office; or (F) a person who is performing a governmental function under a claim of right although he is not legally qualified to do so. Reasonable Belief - answerA belief that would be held by an ordinary and prudent man in the same circumstances as the actor. Secure Correctional Facility - answerA municipal or county jail; or (B) a confinement facility operated by or under a contract with any division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Unlawful - answerCriminal or tortuous or both and includes what would be criminal or tortuous but for a defense not amounting to justification or privilege. Death - answerFor an individual who is an unborn child, the failure to be born alive. Prosecuting Attorney - answerProve beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant or defendant's conduct does not fall within the exception. Proof Beyond a Reasonable Doubt - answerAll persons are presumed to be innocent and no person may be convicted of an offense unless each element of the offense is proved beyond a reasonable doubt. Presumption - answerIf there is sufficient evidence of the facts that give rise to the presumption, the issue of the existence of the presumed fact must be submitted to the jury Defense - answer-"It is a defense to prosecution..." -REASONABLE DOUBT -Easier to prove Affirmative Defense - answer-"It is an Affirmative Defense to Prosecution..." -Prosecuting attorney not required to negate existence. -Proved by PREPONDERANCE OF EVIDENCE -Harder to prove Criminal Episode - answerThe commission of 2 or more offenses, regardless of whether the harm is directed toward or inflicted upon more than one person or item. Common scheme/Similar offenses. Requirement of Voluntary Act or Omission - answerA person commits an offense only if he voluntarily engages in conduct, including an act, an omission, or possession. (b) Possession is a voluntary act if the possessor knowingly obtains or receives the thing possessed or is aware of his control of the thing for a sufficient time to permit him to terminate his control. Requirement of Culpability - answerA person does not commit an offense unless he intentionally, knowingly, recklessly, or with criminal negligence engages in conduct as the definition of the offense requires. municipal ordinance or by order of a county commissioners court may not dispense with the requirement of a culpable mental state Culpable Mental States - answer1) Intentionally 2) Knowingly 3) Recklessly 4) Criminal Neglience Intentionally - answerWith intent, with respect to the nature of his conduct or to a result of his conduct when it is his conscio