Rape, Theft and Property Crimes: every key term you need (+ practice quiz)
25 flashcard terms for Criminal Law Topic 6, written to match the course framework. Study them here, then drill them as interactive flashcards, or test yourself with the 15-question quiz — free, no account needed.
Sexual intercourse by a man with a woman not his wife, accomplished by force or threat of force and against her will, requiring proof of both force and nonconsent.
Force requirement
The traditional element demanding physical compulsion or threat beyond the act itself, criticized because it made the victim's resistance the measure of the crime.
Resistance requirement
An older rule conditioning rape convictions on physical resistance by the victim, now abandoned or greatly relaxed in nearly every American jurisdiction.
State v. Rusk
Maryland upheld a rape conviction where the victim's fear was found reasonable in the circumstances, treating constructive force as sufficient without physical resistance.
State in the Interest of M.T.S.
New Jersey held that the force element is satisfied by the act of penetration itself absent affirmative permission, effectively adopting an affirmative consent standard.
Rusk v. State intermediate ruling
The intermediate appellate court had reversed because the victim's fear was not objectively reasonable, a decision the state high court later overturned.
Marital exemption
The common law rule that a husband could not be guilty of raping his wife, abolished or narrowed by statute and judicial decision in every American state.
Rape shield rules
Evidentiary provisions such as FRE 412 that exclude most evidence of a complainant's other sexual behavior or predisposition, subject to narrow constitutional exceptions.
Fraud in the factum
Deception about the nature of the act itself, which vitiates consent, as distinguished from deception about collateral matters that traditionally did not.
Fraud in the inducement
Deception about surrounding facts such as identity or payment, which at common law did not negate consent to the act, though many modern statutes disagree.
Statutory rape
Intercourse with a person under the age of consent, typically a strict liability offense as to age in many states, with some jurisdictions allowing a reasonable mistake defense.
Mistake as to consent
Jurisdictions split on whether an honest and reasonable belief in consent is a defense, with some requiring reasonableness and others rejecting the defense outright.
Larceny
The trespassory taking and carrying away of the personal property of another with the intent to permanently deprive the owner, requiring a wrongful taking from possession.
Asportation
The carrying away element of larceny, satisfied by the slightest movement of the property that is consistent with an intent to steal.
Trespassory taking
A taking of possession without the owner's consent, which distinguishes larceny from offenses where the defendant already lawfully held the property.
Custody versus possession
An employee handed goods for a limited purpose has custody only, so misappropriation is larceny, while one entrusted with true possession commits embezzlement instead.
Larceny by trick
Obtaining possession, but not title, by deception, which the common law treated as larceny because the fraud vitiated the owner's apparent consent.
Embezzlement
The fraudulent conversion of property by someone who already holds it lawfully, an offense created by statute to fill the gap left by the trespass element of larceny.
False pretenses
Obtaining title to property by a knowingly false representation of a material past or existing fact with intent to defraud the owner.
People v. Ochoa
An illustrative theft decision underscoring that the grade of the offense turns on the value and character of the property taken as defined by statute.
Robbery
Larceny from the person or presence of another accomplished by force or by putting the victim in fear of immediate harm, blending theft and assault.
Extortion
Obtaining property by threats of future harm, exposure of a secret, or misuse of official position, distinguished from robbery by the deferred nature of the threat.
Burglary
At common law the breaking and entering of the dwelling of another at night with intent to commit a felony inside, broadly expanded by modern statutes.
Consolidated theft statutes
Modern codes merge larceny, embezzlement, and false pretenses into a single theft offense so that charging errors about the mode of acquisition no longer defeat convictions.
Claim of right defense
A good faith belief in a legal entitlement to the property negates the intent to steal, even if the belief is legally mistaken.