For an accused person to be convicted of a crime, what must the prosecution prove?
Crimes (except for strict liability crimes) have two basic elements (things the prosecutor has to prove to convict the defendant): a guilty mind and a guilty act. A crime is committed when a person commits a guilty act accompanied by a guilty mind. The Model Penal Code uses the following terms to describe the accused person’s state of mind: purpose, knowledge, recklessness, and negligence. Crimes also have specific elements that are contained in the definition of a crime. For example, a murder is an intentional killing of a human being. The elements are that the accused person must have (1) purposely or knowingly (2) caused a death (3) of a human being. To obtain a conviction, the State must prove all of the elements of a crime beyond a reasonable doubt.
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