Classification of Criminal Offenses. Abandonment Defense in Criminal Cases. Consent Defense in Criminal Cases. Entrapment Defense in Criminal Cases. Insanity Defense in Criminal Cases. Intoxication Defense in Criminal Cases.
Necessity Defense in Criminal Cases. Self-Defense in Criminal Cases. Imperfect Self-Defense in Criminal Cases. Duress Defense in Criminal Cases. Alcohol Crimes. Parole and Probation. Expungement and Sealing of Criminal Records. Offenses Included in Other Crimes. Derivative Responsibility for Crimes.
Working with a Criminal Lawyer. Many jurisdictions recognize involuntary intoxication is a valid defense to a crime. In these jurisdictions, a defendant can admit evidence of his intoxication to show that he did not appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct when committing the crime and should not be held liable. Voluntary intoxication is the willing ingestion or injection of any drink, drug, or other intoxicating substance that the defendant knows can produce an intoxicating effect.
The Supreme Court in Montana v. Egelhoff held that states are constitutionally permitted to eliminate the voluntary intoxication defense, and many states have done so. Assault is a general intent crime—all it requires is that the defendant intend the physical act in question. Theft by larceny, on the other hand, requires that the defendant not only act intentionally in taking property , but also with a specific state of mind to permanently deprive the owner possession.
Even where voluntary intoxication is a potential defense to specific intent crimes, it often reduces the defendant's culpability, rather than let him or her off the hook.
For example, assume one person, extremely inebriated, attacks another. Drunkenness might have prevented the attacker from forming the specific intent necessary to commit assault with intent to cause great bodily harm. But it probably won't absolve the assailant of liability for the general intent crime of simple assault.
Some states take a particularly restrictive approach to defenses based on voluntary intoxication. In Alabama, for example, voluntary intoxication can disprove the mental state required for a specific intent offense only if it amounts to insanity.
The intoxication must make the requisite mental state "impossible"—it must be so severe that the defendant is "incapable of consciousness that he is committing a crime; incapable of discriminating between right and wrong. Comm'r , F. State , So. Even in states that don't require temporary insanity, defendants must typically be really drunk to be incapable of forming specific intent. What's more, in some states, voluntary intoxication isn't any kind of defense, even when the alleged crime requires specific intent.
Such states may carve out an exception for intoxication caused by certain prescribed substances; for more on the effect of prescriptions, see Is involuntary intoxication a defense? Carter v. If you've been accused of a crime you allegedly committed while intoxicated, consult an experienced criminal defense attorney. There are wrinkles in the law on intoxication, and they can vary from state to state. A knowledgeable lawyer can fully advise you of the applicable law and protect your rights.
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Meet the Editors. Accountability Legislators and courts have taken the attitude that, by and large, people must be accountable for their actions, regardless of whether they were operating with all their faculties. General and Specific Intent States like California take the approach that defendants may use voluntary intoxication to argue that they didn't form the specific intent necessary to commit a particular crime. Partial Defense Even where voluntary intoxication is a potential defense to specific intent crimes, it often reduces the defendant's culpability, rather than let him or her off the hook.
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