Gale Encyclopedia of American Law Volume 3 P31 fully illuminates today's leading cases, major statutes, legal terms and concepts, notable persons involved with the law, important documents and more. Legal issues are fully discussed in easy-to-understand language, including such high-profile topics as the Americans with Disabilities Act, capital punishment, domestic violence, gay and lesbian rights, physician-assisted suicide and thousands more. | 288 CRIMINAL LAW purposeful when a person holds a conscious objective to engage in certain conduct or to cause a particular result. To act knowingly means to do so voluntarily and deliberately and not owing to mistake or some other innocent reason. An act is reckless when a person knows of an unjustifiable risk and consciously disregards it. An omission or failure to act may constitute a criminal act if there is a duty to act. For example a parent has a duty to protect his or her child from harm. A parent s failure to take reasonable steps to protect a child could result in criminal charges if the omission were considered to be at least reckless. Ordinarily a person cannot be convicted of a crime unless he or she is aware of all the facts that make his or her conduct criminal. However if a person fails to be aware of a substantial and unjustifiable risk an act or omission involving that risk may constitute negligent conduct that leads to criminal charges. NEGLIGENCE gives rise to criminal charges only if the defendant took a very unreasonable risk by acting or failing to act. Intent Criminal intent must be formed before the act and it must unite with the act. It need not exist for any given length of time before the act the intent and the act can be as instantaneous as simultaneous or successive thoughts. A jury may be permitted to infer criminal intent from facts that would lead a reasonable person to believe that it existed. For example the intent to commit BURGLARY may be inferred from the accused s possession of tools for picking locks. Criminal intent may also be presumed from the commission of the act. That is the prosecution may rely on the presumption that a person intends the natural and probable consequences of his or her voluntary acts. For example the intent to commit murder may be demonstrated by the particular voluntary movement that caused the death such as the pointing and shooting of a firearm. A defendant may rebut this presumption by introducing
