Criminal Law MBE Tip of the Day – MBE Tips Series

Answer to the Criminal Law MBE Question

Subject:  Criminal Law

Legal Issue: Is the man guilty of larceny?

Legal Rule and Analysis: Larceny is defined as the trespassory taking and carrying away of personal property of another with the intent to permanently deprive them thereof. Here, the man did not specifically intend to permanently deprive the store of the umbrella—because he thought the umbrellas were free. It does not matter if his belief was unreasonable. A reasonable mistake of fact or an unreasonable mistake of fact can be a defense to a specific intent crime if it negates the specific intent. (A) is incorrect because if a defendant is being charged with a specific intent crime, a reasonable or unreasonable mistake of fact will serve as a defense. (B) is incorrect because it is not the intent to leave the store that matters; it is the intent to permanently deprive the store of their property that matters. (C) is incorrect because it is irrelevant. The man does not have to leave the store to commit larceny. If he did have the specific intent to steal the umbrella, he would technically be guilty the second he picked up the umbrella to carry it away.

Choose an answer choice that most closely matches your conclusion and explain why the others are incorrect:   The answer is (D). The other explanations are above.

MBE Tip:  Be aware of the different mindsets (mens rea) when you are studying crimes. Classify crimes by the mindset required and you will start to answer more questions correctly and you will have a correct general understanding of the law.

Specific intent is when one has the conscious object or purpose to achieve a specific result. The crimes that require specific intent include: virtually all of the theft crimes (robbery, embezzlement, larceny, burglary, forgery, false pretenses), the inchoate (“incomplete”) crimes (solicitation, attempt, conspiracy), and assault and first-degree murder.  To be liable for any of these crimes, the defendant needs the specific intent to commit them. It needs to be his purpose to commit them!

Malice crimes are second-degree murder and arson (like “MA” in MALICE). These require recklessness or intentional disregard of an obvious or known risk that a result will occur. So if I had a match and I didn’t mean to burn down a person’s house, but I poured lighter fluid all over it then threw the match on it just to see what would happen, I would be liable because I am acting recklessly with respect to the outcome.

Strict liability crimes do not require a mindset. These crimes are (SS): statutory rape and small crimes (usually vehicular offenses like speeding, or regulatory offenses like littering, selling contaminated food, etc.).

Because mens rea plays such a huge rule in answering an MBE question accurately, it is very important to classify crimes by their required mens rea right off the bat.