Criminal Law @ Moritz College of Law

NEW ZOOM LINK FOR ALL OUR REVIEW SESSIONS!!

I am still planning to conduct (entirely optional) review sessions in the days leading up to our exam.  Specifically, I plan to be on Zoom to answer questions in two weekend sessions: 

Saturday, December 17, starting at 1:30pm

Sunday, December 18, starting at 11:30am

In addition, I will plan to conduct an in-person review session in our usual classroom (which will also be Zoomed): 

Monday, December 19, starting at 11am.

I will also plan to record/post these review sessions, AND I have created a new zoom link for our review sessions in order to ensure I can make a recording and post it on Carmen after each of our planned review sessions.

I have posted the new Zoom link on under Announcements Carmen and will also plan to send it to the whole class via email on Saturday morning (I do not want to post it here and risk bombing).  Feel free to email me if you cannot find the new link.

Last year's final exam and links to many more

As I have suggested in various ways at various times, reviewing my old exams can be an effective way to prepare for my new final.  As some of you may now, the easiest way to find my old finals is by scrolling down posts at the Preparing for the final category archive.  (Or, perhaps even easier is to jumpt to the December 2021 archive.)  I am pretty sure you can find nearly all my old exams via links in prior posts via the archives.

The only prior final exam not already on this site is my Fall 2021 exam.  So here it is:

Download Berman 2021 Crim final exam

Please let me know, via the comments here or email, if you have any problems accessing this old exam or any of the older ones.  And if I can do anything more to help as your work through this finals Fall, please feel free to reach out.

A real-world German variation on attempt/conspiracy hypos

Though I do not know German conspiracy and attempt laws, I do know that this new story from the Washington Post, headlined "German police arrest 25 over far-right plot to overthrow government,"provides a useful reminder of the real-world risks that attempt/conspiracy laws seek to address.  Here are excerpts:

German authorities on Wednesday arrested 25 people suspected of plotting to use armed force to storm parliament and violently overthrow the state, marking one of the country’s largest ever raids targeting right-wing extremists.... The majority are accused of being part of a “terrorist organization,” according to the prosecutor’s statement.  The remaining three — including a Russian national — were detained on suspicion of being supporters.

In addition to the arrests, police searched the properties of a further 27 individuals who are being investigated on an “initial suspicion” of being a member or having supported the organization, the statement said.  More than 3,000 police officers were involved in the raids, which took place in 11 of Germany’s 16 states.

The accused subscribe to a variety of conspiracy theories, including QAnon, but draw most heavily from the Reichsbürger movement, which denies the existence of the modern German state, officials said. But they warned it would be naive to dismiss them as cranks.  “Of course there are many busybodies who tell confused stories after drinking alcohol,” Justice Minister Marco Buschmann tweeted. “Here, however, there were such strong suspicions that the group wanted to take violent action.”

The details of the suspected plot triggered comparisons to the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, as German politicians raised it as a reminder of what can happen when anti-constitutional plans are allowed to manifest....

The group was united in a belief that Germany is run by a members of a “deep state,” the prosecutor said, adding that it was prepared to use violence — including the murder of state representatives — to carry out its aim of replacing the existing order in Germany with its own form of government.  The group had planned out the structure of the state apparatus it planned to install once Germany’s government was overthrown, including departments of health, justice and foreign affairs....

“Since November 2021, the members of the ‘Council’ have regularly met in secret to plan the intended takeover of power in Germany and the establishment of their own state structures,” the statement said.  Members believed that “liberation” would be assisted by the intervention of the “Alliance” — a secret society of military and governments, including those of Russia and the United States.  Heinrich XIII had reached out to Russian representatives inside Germany, the prosecutor’s office said — although it added there were no indications of a positive response to his overtures....

According to Germany’s Die Zeit newspaper, one of the defendants posted on Telegram shortly before the raids that public prosecutors, judges and health authorities would “soon find themselves in the dock at Nuremberg 2.0,” in reference to the trials of Nazi war criminals held after World War II.

Without more particulars, of course, it would be hard to debate the particulars of actus reus and mens rea here. But this story from another nation, I thought, provided a useful reminder that the issues we discussed to wrap up the semester are not only of concern in US criminal law and practice.

Mapping out review session plans for days before our exam

As mentioned in class, I am tentatively planning to have (entirely optional) review sessions in the days leading up to our exam. Specifically, I plan to be on Zoom to answer questions in two weekend sessions: 

Saturday, December 17, starting at 1:30pm

Sunday, December 18, starting at 11:30am

In addition, I will plan to conduct an in-person review session in our regulat classroom on Monday, December 19, starting around 11am.

I will assume these times are workable unless and until otherwise from folks with suggestions for better times.