Critical Thinking Exercise

1. What two elements must exist before a person can be held liable for a crime?

2. What defenses might be raised by criminal defendants to avoid liability for criminal acts?

3. Three police officers were on patrol in Los Angeles, California, near a neighborhood associated with the Crips gang, when they pulled over a car with a suspended registration. Each officer talked with one of the three occupants. Maria Trevizo, one of the police officers, spoke with Lemon Johnson, who was wearing clothing consistent with Crips membership. Visible in his pocket was a police scanner, and he said that he had served time in prison for burglary. Trevizo asked him to get out of the car and patted him down, claiming “for officer safety.” Trevizo found a gun concealed in his waistband. Johnson was charged in a California state court with illegal possession of a firearm.

A. Is a search warrant required? Should a search warrant be required?

B. What standard applies to an officer’s patdown of a passenger during a traffic stop? Would a reasonable suspicion short of probable cause ever be sufficient to search?

C. Could a search proceed solely on the basis of probable cause?

4. Kino sees a DVD player on the porch of Lulu’s house, takes the player to his home, and tells everyone he owns it. Maya, holding a knife, forces Nick to give her his boom box, and runs away with it. Ollie breaks into Pam’s apartment, takes a computer, and leaves. Which of these acts are crimes, and what are the differences among them?