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Culpable mental states and criminal responsibility
Summary of the topic
Chapter 6 of the Penal Code says what every offense needs before anyone is guilty of it, and Chapter 8 says who is excused even when the elements are made out. Section 6.01 requires a voluntary act, omission or possession. Section 6.02 requires a culpable mental state unless the definition of the offense plainly dispenses with one, and where none is prescribed, intent, knowledge or recklessness suffices.
Section 6.03 defines four mental states, and section 6.02(d) ranks them from highest to lowest: intentionally, knowingly, recklessly and with criminal negligence. A person acts intentionally when it is the conscious objective or desire to engage in the conduct or cause the result. A person acts knowingly when aware of the nature of the conduct or the circumstances, or aware that the conduct is reasonably certain to cause the result.
A person acts recklessly when aware of a substantial and unjustifiable risk and consciously disregarding it. A person acts with criminal negligence when the person ought to be aware of such a risk. For both of the last two states, the risk must be one whose disregard, or whose failure to be perceived, is a gross deviation from the care an ordinary person would exercise. Most questions turn on the difference between awareness of a risk and failure to perceive it.
Section 6.04 covers causation. A person is responsible if the result would not have occurred but for their conduct, and is still responsible if the only difference between what happened and what they risked is that a different person or property was affected.
Chapter 8 lists the bars to responsibility, and each carries a label that matters. Insanity under section 8.01 is an affirmative defense. Mistake of fact under section 8.02 is a defense, and the actor may still be convicted of a lesser included offense. Section 8.03 says ignorance of the law is no defense, with an affirmative defense for reasonable reliance on an official written statement of the law. Section 8.04 says voluntary intoxication is not a defense. Duress under section 8.05 is an affirmative defense, and entrapment under section 8.06 is a defense. Section 8.07 sets the rules on age, including the ages 15 and 17 and the bar on the death penalty for an offense committed under 18.
Provisions this topic covers
- Tex. Penal Code ch. 6
- Tex. Penal Code ch. 8
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