So the common law has four different categories for mental states in committing a crime specific intent crime, which requires that you have a specific intent or a specific mindset to achieve the illegal objective and committing the illegal objective.
You have malice crimes that require recklessness in committing the crime. You have general intent crimes, which are sort of a catchall category, which include rape and battery.
And then finally strict liability crimes, which include selling alcohol to minors, statutory rape, bigamy, and things like that. Specific intent crimes are a very important type of crime because you have to prove the defendant's men's REA.
They also have certain defenses such as intoxication or mistake of fact that allow a person to potentially not be charged with that crime or to have a lesser charged. Once they are sentenced.
The list of specific intent crimes can be remembered by singing the following to the song BTY BTY boo from Cinderella, and the song goes like solicitation conspiracy attempt, first-degree murder assault, larceny embezzlement, false pretenses robbery, burglary forgery.
And that is how you remember specific intent crimes.
