Compare and contrast general and specific intent. How are general and specific intent similar? How are they different? Be sure to provide examples

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Some main points: General intent is used most commonly in the cases to mean the intent to commit the criminal act as defined in a statute. In that sense, general intent is general because it states the minimum requirement of all crimes—namely, that they have to include an intentional/voluntary act, omission, or possession. It's captured in these adjectives found in most ordinary dictionaries: deliberate, calculated, conscious, intended, planned, meant, studied, knowing, willful, purposeful, purposive, done on purpose, premeditated, preplanned, preconceived. The most common definition of specific intent is what we'll call general intent "plus," where "general intent" refers to the intent to commit the actus reus of the crime, and "plus" refers to some "special mental element" in addition to the intent to commit the criminal act (LaFave 2003b, 1:354). For example, household burglary is a specific intent crime, because in addition to the intent to commit the household burglary actus reus—namely, breaking and entering someone else's house—there's the special mental element, the intent to commit a crime once inside the house.