Before a person may be charged with a crime it must first be established that a crime has been committed. This violation is called

• A. Mens rea
• B. Corpus delicti
• C. Actus reus
• D. Due process

Answer: (C)

This question tests understanding of corpus delicti—the proof that a crime has actually occurred. Corpus delicti means the body of the crime: the facts showing that a prohibited act happened, not just that someone intended to commit an offense or that someone acted in a certain way. You must establish that a crime occurred before charging someone, separate from any intent or admission.

Actus reus is the actual physical act or unlawful omission, the doing of the crime itself. Mens rea is the mental state—the intent, knowledge, or recklessness accompanying the act. Due process refers to fair procedures in the legal system. Those concepts are related but describe different things, whereas corpus delicti specifically captures that the crime itself has happened.