Opinion ID: 2524910
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Mens Rea Requirement

Text: Section 18-6-701(1) classifies the act of contributing to the delinquency of a minor as a class 4 felony. It states: Any person who induces, aids or encourages a child to violate any federal or state law, municipal or county ordinance, or court order commits contributing to the delinquency of a minor. For the purposes of this section, the term child means any person under the age of eighteen years. § 18-6-701(1). The statute does not expressly describe a culpable mental state for the crime of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. In interpreting a statute, we give effect to the intent of the legislature. See Cooper v. People, 973 P.2d 1234, 1239 (Colo. 1999). The power to define criminal conduct and to establish the legal components of criminal liability is vested in the General Assembly. See Colo. Const. art. V, § 1; Copeland v. People, 2 P.3d 1283, 1286 (Colo. 2000). Generally, in order to subject a person to criminal liability, there must be concurrence of the actus reus, an unlawful act, and the mens rea, a culpable mental state. See People v. Torres, 848 P.2d 911, 914 (Colo. 1993). When, as here, no culpable mental state is expressly designated in the statute defining the offense, a culpable mental state may nevertheless be required for the commission of that offense, or with respect to some or all of the material elements thereof, if the proscribed conduct necessarily involves such a culpable mental state. § 18-1-503(2), 6 C.R.S. (1999). We have held that legislative silence on the element of intent in a criminal statute is not to be construed as an indication that no culpable mental state is required. See People v. Moore, 674 P.2d 354, 358 (Colo.1984). Rather, the requisite mental state may be implied from the statute. See id.; People v. Gross, 830 P.2d 933, 940 (Colo.1992). In People v. Trevino, 826 P.2d 399, 402 (Colo.App.1991), the court of appeals stated that the mens rea applicable to contributing to the delinquency of a minor is knowingly. We agree with Trevino that the culpable mental state of knowingly applies to the act of contributing to the delinquency. In order to be convicted of the offense of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, a person must know that he or she is inducing, aiding or encouraging someone to violate a federal or state law, a municipal or county ordinance, or a court order. See § 18-6-701(1). Construing other statutes, we have held that the mens rea of knowingly applies to the act enunciated in the statute defining the offense when the statute does not specify a culpable mental state. See, e.g., Moore, 674 P.2d at 358 (concluding that the mental state `knowingly' is implied by the counterfeit controlled substances statute and is required for a conviction of sale or distribution of counterfeit controlled substances). Based on the court of appeals decision in Trevino, 826 P.2d 399, the defendants argue that the culpable mental state of knowingly applies to all elements of the contributing to the delinquency of a minor statute, including the age provision. In that case, the court relied on section 18-1-503(4), 6 C.R.S. (1999), to hold that if a statute implies a mens rea, that mens rea must be applied to all elements of the statute. See Trevino, 826 P.2d at 402. However, section 18-1-503(4) applies only when the statute expresses a mens rea requirement: When a statute defining an offense prescribes as an element thereof a specified culpable mental state, that mental state is deemed to apply to every element of the offense unless an intent to limit its application clearly appears. (Emphasis added.) Accordingly, section 18-1-503(4) is inapplicable to the contributing to the delinquency of a minor statute as the General Assembly did not specify a culpable mental state in the statute. Instead, section 18-1-503(2), which applies when statutes do not contain a specified mens rea, guides our decision of the cases before us.