Intro to Criminal Law - What Is a Crime? (Summer Camp)

What is a crime? We will look at the underlying elements that make up a crime: Actus Reus, Mens Rea, Concurrence, and Causation. Almost every crime is made up of these four elements. We will get a concrete understanding of what each of those four parts are, and we will explore other factors in crimes that will increase our understanding of the topic.

If you want to try me out as a teacher before committing to a Summer Camp length class, check out my Ongoing class: Law School for Teens - Weekly Class.

While this is Part 2 of my "Intro into Criminal Law" series, students can start here just as easily as Part 1 and be successful. If you want to dive right into Criminal Law, I suggest you start here.

I will provide a discussion outline that has mini-case studies on it that will help students work through these concepts. I will accompany the discussion outline with a powerpoint presentation, but this is not a lecture-based class. There may be brief points where I teach on concepts, but I will engage every student individually and in groups in working through these concepts with me, and we will work in small groups from time-to-time as well.

As this is discussion based, the class schedule will be a bit fluid. Sometimes, students will bring up interesting and relevant points that we will explore because it enhances the overall experience. Sometimes, students will understand the topics clearly, and we will move through the topics quicker than expected.

But here is the general overview of the schedule:

Day 1: Intro to the Four General Elements to a Crime
- Introduction to the Class - Expectations
- What is a Voluntary Act? (Actus Reus)
- Crimes of Omission

Day 2: Mental States
- What is the proper Mental State (Mens Rea) for a crime?
- Mistake of Fact, Mistake of Law

Day 3: Concurrence and Causation
- When do the Actus Reus and the Mens Rea have to happen?
- Causation - How do we prove the harm?

Day 4: Substantial Factor and Unintended Harm
- What does it mean to be a substantial factor in a crime?
- What if something breaks the causation?

If there is time: What is an Inchoate (Incomplete) Crime?