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MMLU / A federal statute makes it a crime for anyone to "knowingly" use, transfer,…

Problem

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question

A federal statute makes it a crime for anyone to "knowingly" use, transfer, acquire, alter, or possess food stamps in any manner not authorized by statute or federal regulations. A restaurant owner purchased food stamps from an undercover federal agent several times for a price below face value. At trial, the judge refused to charge the jury that this was a specific intent crime requiring proof that the defendant knew that he was acting illegally. The government urged that no mens rea, or "evil-meaning mind" had to be proved. The court simply told the jury that "knowingly" means that the Defendant realized what he was doing, and did not act through ignorance, mistake, or accident. The owner was convicted and appealed. What will the federal appellate court likely decide regarding the lower court's interpretation of the criminal intent required under the statute?

choices

  1. Some statutes are written without the need to prove any particular mens rea, and this statute appears to be one of them, making the court's instructions appropriate.
  2. Where all that is available regarding intent is the use of the word "knowingly", the prosecution must at least prove that the defendant knew his conduct to be unauthorized by statute or regulations.
  3. This is a strict liability crime that requires no proof of criminal knowledge or specific criminal intent.
  4. The prosecution must prove that the defendant had specific knowledge of the precise provisions of the federal food stamp law and the specific actions that were prohibited.

subject

professional_law

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Source and history

task_id
23c7f196-ebec-5290-9017-4553c5a6349b
task_key
all--test--23c7f196-ebec-5290-9017-4553c5a6349b
task_revision_id
1
config / split
all / test

Official source

initial import