CHAPTER ONE: DEFINING AND PROVING CRIMES
1. Criminal law possesses the following characteristics:
a. conviction carries with it the community’s moral condemnation
b. punishment of wrongdoing
c. society as a whole is considered to be the injured party
d. all of the above
2. The primary objective of a criminal prosecution is:
a. punishment of the wrongdoer
b. compensation of the victim for any financial loss
c. promoting negotiation and settlement
d. enforcing morals
5. The original source of our criminal laws was:
a. English common law
b. Church law
c. Roman law
d. statutory law
6. Judicial activism:
a. binds courts to stand by prior decisions
b. requires courts to defer to legislative intent
c. encourages courts to interpret law to achieve social goals
d. is relevant only to constitutional interpretation
8. In the twentieth century:
a. all states have abolished common law crimes
b. many states have abolished common law crimes but have retained general principles of the common law
c. the common law remains in effect in all jurisdictions
d. common law crimes are relevant only as a part of our heritage
9. Misdemeanors are:
a. “violations,” not crimes
b. minor crimes
c. civil harms
d. common law offenses
11. Criminal acts that are wrong by their very nature are referred to as:
a. administrative crimes
b. mala in se
c. public crimes
d. mala prohibita
12. The primary difference between felonies and misdemeanors is:
a. the person prosecuted
b. the penalty imposed
c. whether the victim is an individual or general society
d. the court that tries the case
13. The ex post facto principle prohibits:
a. decreasing punishments for past crimes
b. increasing punishments for future crimes
c. laws that create new crimes not recognized by common law
d. laws that punish conduct done before the law’s passage
14. The vagueness doctrine prohibits laws that:
a. violate the ex post facto clause
b. violate the constitution in any way
c. violate the equal protection clause
d. violate the constitutional requirement of due process
15. The doctrine that requires criminal laws to be reasonably specific is known as the:
a. ex post facto doctrine
b. uniformity doctrine
c. void-for-vagueness doctrine
d. liberal construction doctrine
16. Which of the following constitutional provisions limits the government’s power to prohibit and punish
certain conduct?
a. the right to free speech
b. the right to due process
c. the right to privacy
d. all of the above
17. Rehabilitation, incapacitation, and deterrence are:
a. mutually exclusive purposes of punishment
b. essential components of all punishment
c. accomplished only through incarceration
d. sometimes conflicting, sometimes complementary purposes of punishment
18. Deterrence theory is based upon the assumption that:
a. criminals are beyond society’s control
b. rehabilitation requires incapacitation
c. human beings govern their conduct by considering potential punishment
d. rehabilitation is more humane than retribution
20. According to incapacitation theory, the purpose of criminal punishment is to:
a. express community condemnation
b. reform criminals into noncriminals
c. eliminate an offender’s capacity to commit crimes
d. vindicate victims’ rights
23. The prosecution’s responsibility to prove all elements of a crime beyond a reasonable doubt is known
as its:
a. burden of production
b. burden of proof
c. burden to prove the corpus delicti
d. presumption of guilt
24. The burden of production in a criminal case requires:
a. evidence beyond a reasonable doubt
b. some evidence to support a claim
c. evidence to rebut the presumption of innocence
d. direct, not circumstantial, evidence
25. The preponderance of evidence is:
a. evidence that raises a reasonable doubt
b. clear and convincing evidence
c. evidence that makes a fact more likely than not
d. a constitutional standard
26. A presumption is:
a. adequate for conviction
b. the same thing as a permissive inference
c. determined by the judge, not the jury
d. a mandatory finding when certain predicate facts are established
27. A permissive inference is:
a. a possible but not mandatory conclusion to be drawn
b. available only to the defense, not the prosecution
c. unconstitutional in a criminal trial
d. not a proper way to prove the corpus delicti
28. Recognition that people normally intend the natural and necessary consequence of their acts is:
a. a “true” and proper presumption
b. a permissible inference
c. unconstitutional
d. part of a proper defense, but not part of the prosecution’s case
29. The prosecution may use inferences that are:
a. rational, that is, the inferred fact logically follows from the evidence
b. created by the legislature
c. recognized by common law
d. reflective of legislative policy
CHAPTER TWO: ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF CRIMES
1. Which of the following is not considered an act for purposes of criminal law?
a. omission
b. thought
c. speech
d. attempt
2. Conduct during a sleepwalking episode is considered:
a. a voluntary act
b. a status or condition
c. an involuntary act
d. a strict liability act
3. In order to be held criminally liable for a failure to act, the defendant:
a. must have a moral duty to act
b. must possess malice aforethought
c. must be at least negligent
d. must have a legal duty to act
4. A common method of proving mens rea is by:
a. a guilty plea
b. inference from a person’s actions
c. an eyewitness
d. a polygraph examination
6. When the defendant intends to harm one victim but harms another, the law may punish for:
a. general intent
b. transferred intent
c. specific intent
d. constructive intent
7. A subjective state of mind is:
a. the defendant’s actual state of mind
b. what most people would intend under the circumstances
c. what a reasonable person would intend under the circumstances
d. the jury’s opinion of what it would intend under the circumstances
8. The reasonable person standard is part of the definition of:
a. purpose
b. knowledge
c. recklessness
d. specific intent
9. A person who acts “knowingly” acts:
a. intelligently
b. consciously or with awareness
c. with a specific intent to accomplish a criminal harm
d. reasonably
10. Wanton conduct is:
a. harming knowingly
b. consciously creating risks of harm
c. creating risks of harm without knowing it
d. acting in such a way as to cause harm
14. In what type of crime may the prosecution ignore the defendant’s state of mind?
a. misdemeanors
b. administrative crimes
c. status crimes
d. strict liability crimes
CHAPTER THREE: PARTIES TO A CRIME
AND INCHOATE OFFENSES
1. The criminal law may focus on conduct that occurs:
a. prior to crime only
b. during crime only
c. after crime only
d. before, during, and after crime
2. The common law punished which of the following participants in felonies?
a. actual perpetrators
b. aiders and abettors
c. conspirators
d. all of the above
3. Under common law, the party who must be present (at least constructively) at the scene of a crime is:
a. the aider and abettor (principal in the second degree)
b. the accessory after the fact
c. the accessory before the fact
d. the conspirator
4. At common law, accessories before the fact were:
a. lookouts and getaway drivers
b. the actual perpetrators of crimes
c. criminal planners who were not conspirators
d. not present when crimes were committed
5. An accessory after the fact:
a. helps plan the crime
b. gives aid and comfort to persons known to have committed crimes
c. drives the getaway car
d. serves as a lookout during a crime
6. The mens rea of an accomplice may be:
a. strict liability
b. criminal negligence
c. an intent to aid the crime’s execution
d. criminal recklessness
7. Which of the following circumstances might render the defendant an accessory before the fact?
a. being present at the scene of a crime
b. supplying instrumentalities of crime
c. possessing knowledge that a crime has occurred
d. failing to report a crime
8. In order to be an accessory after the fact, the actor must:
a. aid the offender out of friendship
b. provide false information to authorities
c. know that the person aided committed a felony
d. hide the offender from authorities
9. The party to a crime who engages in some form of obstruction of justice is:
a. an accessory before the fact
b. a principal in the first degree
c. a principal in the second degree
d. an accessory after the fact
10. Most jurisdictions treat accessories after the fact:
a. coconspirators
b. equivalent to accessories before the fact
c. principals to the crime
d. less serious offenders
11. An inchoate crime is:
a. an incomplete crime
b. a status crime
c. a crime of omission
d. a statutory creation
12. Inchoate crimes punish:
a. criminal intent without any requirement for a physical act
b. people who intend and act to commit a crime
c. without regard to the defendant’s mens rea
d. group behavior
13. Attempts:
a. punish for mere intention to commit a crime
b. treat thoughts as actions
c. require criminal intent and an act beyond mere preparation
d. are misdemeanors, not felonies
14. The mens rea required for an attempt is:
a. the intent to commit any unlawful act
b. the intent to act recklessly
c. the intent to create harm
d. the intent to commit the specific crime in question
15. The physical proximity doctrine is used to establish:
a. the difference between conspiracy and solicitation
b. the nature of the agreement in conspiracy
c. the act necessary for the crime of attempt
d. the difference between attempted and completed crimes
16. A defendant attempts an abortion on a woman who is not pregnant. This is an example of:
a. reckless impossibility
b. factual impossibility
c. constructive impossibility
d. mistaken impossibility
17. Legal impossibility exists when:
a. the completed conduct is not a consummated crime
b. the actor has not done all that he or she intends to do
c. the criminal harm cannot possibly result from the action taken
d. an extraneous factor prevents the crime’s completion
18. Distinguishing factual from legal impossibility:
a. is a jury issue
b. is an issue for the judge
c. is not required under the Model Penal Code
d. affects only punishment, not conviction
19. Abandonment of a criminal intent:
a. may constitute a defense to attempt
b. is never a defense
c. creates factual impossibility
d. creates legal impossibility
20. When a defendant abandons the intent to go through with a crime, the defendant:
a. is innocent of any attempt charge
b. may still be guilty of a criminal attempt
c. is still guilty of solicitation
d. may be fined, but not imprisoned
21. Which is the most remote from the completion of a crime?
a. conspiracy
b. attempt
c. preparation
d. aiding and abetting
22. Conspiracy focuses on:
a. the inchoate nature of crime
b. the intent to commit a dangerous act
c. the involvement of more persons than are necessary to commit the crime
d. premeditation
23. The doctrine that there is no conspiracy when there is an agreement between only the parties necessary
for the commission of a substantive offense is known as:
a. Wharton’s rule
b. the complicity doctrine
c. the principle of concurrence
d. the Pinkerton doctrine
24. In conspiracy law, Wharton’s rule:
a. permits a conspiracy conviction even if only one actor can be proved guilty
b. requires an act in furtherance of the conspiracy
c. requires at least one person more than it takes to commit the consummated crime
d. requires acquittal when all other conspirators are acquitted
25. To convict a defendant of solicitation, the person solicited:
a. must act toward completion of the crime
b. must accept the solicitation
c. need not accept the solicitation
d. must complete the crime
26. The Pinkerton doctrine:
a. permits a conspiracy conviction even if only one actor can be proved guilty
b. requires an act in furtherance of the conspiracy
c. requires at least one person more than it takes to commit the consummated crime
d. determines when each conspirator may be held responsible for the acts of other conspirators
27. An innocent human agent is:
a. one who has been acquitted of all charges
b. one who performs no physical acts
c. one who has plea bargained with the prosecution
d. one who commits the physical acts constituting a crime, but has a valid defense to the charge
28. Merger is a concept that:
a. subsumes a previously distinct offense within a greater offense
b. allows multiple charges at a single trial
c. allows one trial of joint defendants
d. combines all offenses for sentencing purposes
29. Mere preparation is most often raised as a defense to:
a. attempted crimes
b. misdemeanors
c. felonies
d. strict liability crimes
CHAPTER FOUR: DEFENSES
1. A case-in-chief defense:
a. arises from inconsistencies in the prosecution’s case
b. can only be raised after the prosecution rests its case
c. challenges the prosecution’s version of the case
d. introduces an independent legal claim into the case
Answer: c
2. An affirmative defense:
a. must be disproved by the state
b. must be proved by the defense to be true beyond a reasonable doubt
c. is not a complete defense
d. is raised by the defense
Answer: d
3. When a defendant bears the “burden of production,” the defendant must:
a. introduce evidence to support a claim
b. produce sufficient evidence to persuade the factfinder
c. establish the claim beyond a reasonable doubt
d. establish the claim by clear and convincing evidence
Answer: a
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4. In order to satisfy the requirements of self-defense, the defendant must:
a. hold a reasonable or unreasonable fear of deadly harm
b. retreat from his or her home if the threat was in the home
c. not use deadly force
d. reasonably believe that the threat was of immediate harm
Answer: d
5. When acting in self-defense, defenders may use:
a. reasonable force under the circumstances
b. whatever force the defenders deem necessary
c. the force necessary to prevent a future attack
d. the force needed to subdue the attacker
Answer: a
6. In most jurisdictions, the defense-of-others defense:
a. applies only to protecting family members
b. applies only to protecting children
c. requires that the “other” have the right to defend him- or herself
d. applies only to the use of deadly force
Answer: c
7. According to the defense of necessity, it is:
a. permissible to commit a greater crime in order to avoid a lesser crime
b. permissible to commit one crime to avoid another
c. permissible to commit a lesser crime to avoid a greater one
d. never a defense to commit one crime to avoid another
Answer: c
8. According to Tennessee v. Garner, police may use deadly force:
a. when defending property
b. when the suspect is a danger to the police or others
c. when necessary to make an arrest
d. when necessary to make a felony arrest
Answer: b
9. Citizens may use reasonable force:
a. to resist any police action
b. to resist excessive force by an arresting officer
c. citizens may never use force against a police officer
d. to resist police surveillance
Answer: b
10. If a citizen’s property is unlawfully threatened with harm by another person, the citizen may:
a. use deadly force
b. use reasonable, nondeadly force to protect the property
c. not take action to protect mere property
d. make only a verbal protest
Answer: b
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11. If a person commits a crime to avoid immediate serious harm unlawfully threatened by another, the
person should claim the defense of:
a. temporary insanity
b. duress
c. necessity
d. self-defense
Answer: b
12. The threat required for duress is the threat of:
a. future or immediate property damage
b. future or immediate physical harm
c. immediate bodily harm
d. immediate property damage
Answer: c
13. Obedience to superior orders (United States v. Calley) is an extension of the defense of:
a. duress
b. self-defense
c. diminished capacity
d. mistake of fact
Answer: a
14. Which of the following is generally true regarding the intoxication defense?
a. Voluntary intoxication is never a defense.
b. Voluntary intoxication is rarely a valid defense.
c. Whether voluntary or involuntary, intoxication is never a valid defense.
d. Whether voluntary or involuntary, intoxication is often a valid defense.
Answer: b
15. Mistake of fact may be a defense:
a. in felony cases only
b. when it negates a material element of the crime
c. when it is coupled with a mistake of law
d. in misdemeanor cases only
Answer: b
16. According to the subjective theory of the entrapment defense:
a. the defendant must instigate the crime
b. the defendant must not have been predisposed to commit the crime
c. the police activity must be beyond legal propriety
d. a reasonable person would have been induced by the police
Answer: b
17. According to the objective approach to entrapment, entrapment occurs when law enforcement activity:
a. suggests the opportunity to commit a crime
b. provides an innocent person with the opportunity to commit a crime
c. involves the use of government spies
d. is beyond judicial tolerance
Answer: d
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18. The M’Naghten test for insanity is also known as:
a. the diminished capacity test
b. the right-from-wrong test
c. the substantial capacity test
d. the irresistible impulse test
Answer: b
19. The M’Naghten rule focuses on:
a. the defendants’ ability to distinguish right from wrong
b. the defendants’ emotional capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of their acts
c. the defendants’ appreciation of what they are doing and their resistance to impulses
d. the defendants’ ability to conform to the requirements of the law
Answer: a
20. The test that focuses on the defendants’ ability to control their conduct is the:
a. temporary insanity test
b. right-from-wrong test
c. substantial capacity test
d. irresistible impulse test
Answer: d
CHAPTER FIVE: CRIMES AGAINST A PERSON
1. Common law divided homicide into:
a. murder, manslaughter, and negligent homicide
b. first degree and second degree murder
c. murder and manslaughter
d. premeditated and heat-of-passion murder
Answer: c
2. In order to prove that a criminal homicide has been committed, the prosecutor must:
a. prove that an unlawful act caused the death
b. produce the body of the dead person
c. prove that a death occurred
d. prove that death was not due to natural causes
Answer: a
3. Criminal homicides are graded primarily on the basis of:
a. use of deadly weapons
b. mens rea
c. surrounding circumstances
d. motivation
Answer: b
4. The reason why a person commits a crime is:
a. the intent
b. the purpose
c. the objective
d. the motive
Answer: d
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5. “As a result of careful thought and planning,” refers to the issue of:
a. premeditation
b. wanton disregard
c. depraved heart
d. felony murder
Answer: a
6. Felony murder:
a. requires a premeditated killing
b. is less serious than first degree murder
c. is a form of negligent homicide
d. may be first degree murder
Answer: d
7. In most jurisdictions, criminal homicide committed with a wanton or depraved heart is:
a. negligent homicide
b. involuntary manslaughter
c. first degree murder
d. second degree murder
Answer: d
8. The presence of malice aforethought differentiates:
a. voluntary manslaughter from involuntary manslaughter
b. murder from manslaughter
c. first degree murder from second degree murder
d. felony murder from first degree murder
Answer: b
9. “Malice aforethought” is a required element of:
a. assault and battery
b. manslaughter
c. criminal homicide
d. murder
Answer: d
10. The intentional killing of another person without malice, but in the heat of passion, is:
a. involuntary manslaughter
b. voluntary manslaughter
c. second degree murder
d. first degree murder
Answer: b
11. Which is usually considered adequate to provoke the heat of passion?
a. solicitation to commit a crime
b. insulting words
c. adultery
d. theft
Answer: c
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12. Voluntary manslaughter is a killing that would be considered murder except:
a. it was committed by accident
b. the act was committed in the heat of passion
c. it was the result of criminal negligence
d. it was committed pursuant to an irresistible impulse
Answer: b
13. Misdemeanor manslaughter is usually a form of:
a. involuntary manslaughter
b. excusable homicide
c. voluntary manslaughter
d. temporary insanity
Answer: a
14. The unlawful killing of another person during the course of an unlawful act (other than a felony) or
through negligence during the course of a lawful act is:
a. justifiable homicide
b. voluntary manslaughter
c. involuntary manslaughter
d. excusable homicide
Answer: c
15. The negligence required for involuntary manslaughter ordinarily is:
a. gross negligence
b. exceedingly gross negligence
c. ordinary negligence
d. wanton disregard
Answer: a
16. Common law defined rape as requiring “carnal knowledge,” meaning:
a. sodomy
b. offensive touching
c. sexual battering
d. sexual intercourse
Answer: d
17. In rape law, the victim’s consent or lack thereof is determined by:
a. the subjective belief of the attacker
b. the actions of a reasonable person
c. the victim’s prior sexual experience
d. the totality of the circumstances
Answer: d
18. The “marital rape exception” refers to the rule that:
a. only men, not women, can rape
b. incest, not rape, applies to sexual relations within a family
c. men can rape only women who are not their wives
d. women cannot refuse any form of sex with their husband
Answer: c
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19. Battery is defined as:
a. an unlawful touching
b. a serious injury
c. the threat to injure
d. causing fear on the part of the victim
Answer: a
20. The mens rea for battery requires:
a. the specific intent to injure
b. the specific intent to seriously harm another
c. the intent to frighten
d. at least recklessness
Answer: d
21. An attempted battery in which no touching occurred is usually classified as:
a. stalking
b. assault
c. communicating a threat
d. mayhem
Answer: b
22. Under the attempted-battery form of assault, the intent required is:
a. recklessness
b. negligence
c. the intent to cause serious bodily harm
d. the intent to commit a battery
Answer: d
23. The definition of assault includes:
a. attempted-battery assault only
b. offer-battery assault only
c. both attempted-battery assault and offer-battery assault
d. threatening words
Answer: c
24. Which of the following is not a required element of offer-battery assault?
a. the victim’s awareness of the threat
b. a reasonable apprehension of immediate battery
c. some act that causes apprehension
d. an intent to harm the victim
Answer: d
25. Unlawfully confining or restraining liberty is:
a. kidnapping
b. extortion
c. false imprisonment
d. abduction
Answer: c
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26. The asportation element in kidnapping refers to:
a. confining the victim in a secret place
b. confining the victim by force
c. moving the victim from one place to another
d. frightening the victim
27. Like false imprisonment, kidnapping is:
a. a crime against children
b. a crime against personal liberty
c. a crime against nature
d. a crime against public morals
Answer: b
28. Robbery requires taking property:
a. through fraud
b. from the person of another
c. by wrongful conversion
d. with intent to temporarily deprive
Answer: b
29. Robbery requires all of the elements of a larceny, plus:
a. taking by force or threat of force
b. physical injury to the victim
c. extortion
d. use of a weapon
Answer: a
30. Extortion differs from robbery in what way?
a. In extortion, the offender obtains title; in robbery, possession is passed.
b. Only robbery requires that the victim be physically injured.
c. Robbery requires threat of immediate harm; extortion may involve future harm.
d. Extortion is not a felony.
Answer: c