Transcript 00:00 even though criminal law interests 00:01 everyone and it’s something everybody 00:03 will deal with at least once a lot of 00:05 people don’t know very much about it 00:06 here if you basic concepts that might 00:09 help but where though this isn’t legal 00:12 advice just a general explanation let’s 00:15 start with the two most basic elements 00:17 of aiding crime first mens rea a’ now 00:20 mens rea is not as it sounds some sort 00:23 of manly death-ray mens rea ax is Latin 00:25 for guilty mind to commit a crime you 00:29 have a particular state of mind when you 00:31 act obvious right let’s use an example 00:34 if you commit a criminal act like bank 00:36 robbery but you’re sleepwalking then you 00:41 didn’t act with a guilty mind and so you 00:43 didn’t commit a crime you have to act 00:45 with the guilty mind at the exact time 00:47 of the criminal act so if you decided to 00:49 murder someone but on your way there 00:52 you’re not paying attention and you hit 00:54 them with your car that’s not murder 00:58 because even though you had a bad act 01:00 and a guilty mind you didn’t have the 01:03 guilty mind when you did the bad act you 01:08 were thinking about something else 01:12 enactus Reyes is just a fancy word for a 01:14 criminal act can’t commit a crime 01:16 without action but even if you want to 01:19 commit a crime you may not actually be 01:21 successful this is called an attempt an 01:24 attempt is a special crime that requires 01:26 two things be present first the guilty 01:30 mind or the intent to commit a crime 01:33 second enact something significant 01:36 enough that the attempter is showing 01:37 they really want to commit the crime but 01:39 not actually committing the entire crime 01:42 the world is full of criminals who 01:45 didn’t quite pull it off for all kinds 01:46 of reasons the difference in the 01:49 criminal act is the important part if 01:52 you committed the whole act it wouldn’t 01:54 be attempted robbery it would just be 01:56 robbery 01:57 for example grabbing a purse but not 02:00 actually taking it would be a big enough 02:02 act to be in attempts but touching a 02:06 person passing while you think about 02:09 possibly grabbing it 02:11 would not be enough even though you were 02:14 thinking about it 02:15 so it’s important not to jump the gun on 02:18 stopping and attempt having the intent 02:23 is still important you can’t come in an 02:27 attempt because you’re being reckless or 02:29 not paying attention even if you could 02:31 commit the underlying crime that way so 02:39 while you can recklessly commit 02:40 manslaughter 02:45 you can’t recklessly attempt 02:47 manslaughter 02:49 you can’t recklessly attempt to commit 02:51 any crime for that matter it might be 02:55 another crime but not attempts because 02:57 you have to intend to commit a crime for 02:59 an attempt to take place and there you 03:03 have it 03:12 you
