All Mistakes Require Reasonableness
This trap appears as a wrong-answer choice in 1 active question. Spotting how it is built is the repair: read each example's “why it's attractive” before the “why it's wrong.”
Subject distribution
- Criminal Law1
Example wrong choices
20597_olivewood_nativity_craft_swap · CRIMINAL_LAW · Choice ABoth Stephen and Mary are not guilty because both acted from genuine beliefs that excused the taking.
Why it's attractive
A student picks this because both actors are described as genuine or sincere. The breaker is that sincerity does not erase the fact/law distinction.
Why it's wrong
This extends the excuse from fact mistake to law mistake.
Spot it next time
Ask what each defendant was mistaken about before judging guilt.
20597_olivewood_nativity_craft_swap · CRIMINAL_LAW · Choice BBoth Stephen and Mary are guilty because only reasonable mistakes can provide a defense.
Why it's attractive
A student picks this because reasonableness sounds like a familiar mistake-defense requirement. The breaker is that the stem says specific intent, so Stephen's honest fact mistake need not be reasonable.
Why it's wrong
This imports a reasonableness requirement from the wrong mistake-defense frame.
Spot it next time
When the stem says specific intent, test whether the fact mistake negates that intent.
20597_olivewood_nativity_craft_swap · CRIMINAL_LAW · Choice DStephen is guilty; Mary is not guilty—his mistake was unreasonable, and her mistake concerned the law and is a valid defense.
Why it's attractive
A student picks this because Stephen's assumption feels careless and Mary's legal belief sounds principled. The breaker is direction: fact mistake can help Stephen, while law mistake generally does not help Mary.
Why it's wrong
This reverses both outcomes.
Spot it next time
State the direction aloud: fact mistake helps; law mistake usually does not.
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