Classroom Case Analysis

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• 1. Yes, I think that the girls took a substantial step toward killing their teacher. The girls already had an entire plan, and they were working on following through with that plan. To me, that sounds like a substantial step. Our textbook says a substantial step is, “Significant activity undertaken in furtherance of some goal” (Schmalleger & Hall, 2014, p. 99). Bringing the poison to school is a significant activity that was supposed to help them reach their goal of killing their teacher. Before the court ruling, Tennessee court followed the Deputy rule to determine if someone had taken a substantial step toward committing a crime. Still, the court determined that this test should be abandoned. As an alternative, they created a new test to figure out if a substantial step had been taken. With this new test, they concluded that if “an actor possessed materials to be used in the commission of a crime, at or near the scene of the crime, and where the possession of those …show more content…

If the last-step test had been used, my answer would be different. Since the girls did not actually put the poison in the cup and complete the last step, they wouldn’t have been found guilty. An example of this test is, “Using this test in a murder by shooting, an attempt would not be completed until the accused fired the weapon” (Schmalleger & Hall, 2014, p. 98). They never put the poison in the cup, so their attempt would not have been completed. However, if the physical proximity test were used, my answer would be the same. This test required that, “the accused has it within his or her power to compete the crime almost immediately” (Schmalleger & Hall, 2014, p. 98). The girls definitely had it within their power to complete the crime. They could have dumped the rat poison in their teacher’s cup immediately. However, they waited and their teacher happened to walk into the classroom just as they were about to put it in the cup. If they had wanted to, they still could have put it in her

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