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

What will be an ideal response?


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.

Criminal Justice

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In the Charlotte-Mecklenburg burglary study, officers found that areas having the _______ concentrations of appliances installed early were the same areas having the ________ appliance burglaries

a. Highest; most c. Lowest; most b. Highest; least d. Lowest; least

Criminal Justice

One very important, positive aspect of considering whether or not to implement COPPS is that:

a. I is a temporary "program" in most agencies b. COPPS encourages many of the activities that patrol officers would like to do c. COPPS always results in increased crime rates for at least five years d. Tere will always be tremendous opposition to the concept

Criminal Justice

In the scenario, the ____ interfaced with a federal agency

a. FBI b. local police department c. volunteer d. community members e. local police officer

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Environmental conditions that affect the structure and nature of government include:

a. technological b. political c. economic d. all of these choices

Criminal Justice