Understanding Crime: Beyond Simple Legal Definitions
What is a crime? I’m Tulsa criminal attorney Carl Birkhead with Wirth Law Office in Oklahoma. I’ve been doing family and criminal law for about seven years now. And I want to make law easy by talking about what constitutes a criminal act.
So obviously that question should be kind of self-explanatory. A crime is anything that violates the law. It gets a little bit more into it in-depth than that.
Key Components of a Crime
But for most crimes, you have to satisfy two main elements. There’s the mens rea and there’s the actus reus.
So those are fancy Latin legal words that make us lawyers sound and feel smarter than we are. Because all it means is the mental state and the actual physical act itself. So the mens rea, the mental state, that’s where you have to show that there was an intent to commit a crime.
If it’s an intentional crime like assault and battery or murder, or if there’s a negligent crime like child neglect, for example. Either you intentionally, willfully, purposefully, or you negligently, wantonly, recklessly with reckless disregard for health and safety. That’s the intentional aspect.
Determining Intent and Action
So anytime that you’re looking at has a crime has been committed here, first you have to look at the intent. Is it a crime that requires specific intent, like you had the purpose to do that? Or is it a crime that requires negligence, like you just had reckless disregard?
The other part of it is the actus reus. That’s the act itself. Again, let’s say just for easy purposes, assault and battery. Mens rea, I have to intend to want to assault you and battery you. I have to want to cause you to be apprehensive of physical harm and then to cause you that physical contact, that physical harm. That’s the mental side.
The actus reus is the actual punching. I mean, assault, I’m winding up for the punch, and then there’s the pitch. That is the actual actus reus of the crime, and you have to show both sides of that to prove that a crime was committed. And if you can’t, then no crime was committed.
Legal Guidance and Support
You look at the Oklahoma Uniform Jury Instructions, the elements of each crime on there are always going to be broken down by first the intentional part of it and then the actual physical act itself. If you have questions about this or if you’ve been arrested and you don’t really think that a crime was committed, absolutely give us a call.
These are serious justifiable defenses that can be raised in the course of trying to defend you in a criminal proceeding. And if you have questions about it or you think maybe they can’t prove my intent or I didn’t physically commit a crime, absolutely call us. I’d love to talk with you about it. Go through the elements with you and see what we can do to help represent you.
Schedule a Low-Cost Initial Strategy Session
Call Tulsa criminal lawyer Carl Birkhead of Wirth Law Office at 918-879-16812 to schedule a low-cost initial strategy session. We’re here to help you navigate the complexities of the law.
