Exercise: Meeting Elements

Once we have broken a statute down into its elements, we then turn to the facts of a particular case. We perform a matching function to see if the facts in the case "meet" or "satifsy" the elements of the statute.

Imagine a bar that a high jumper has to jump over. The bar is the element in the statute, and the jumper is the prosecutor, who must provide enough facts to satisfy that element, to get over the bar. Of course, to win, the prosecutor must surmount the bar for all elements. If she fails on even one, the defendant wins. After all, by definition, elements are connected by "and." (If you see an "or," that means that that single element can be satisfied in two or more different ways).

Try the problems below and bring it to class.

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