Criminal possession criminalizes possession of prohibited items, requiring knowledgeable possession and constructive possession. Statutes aim to discourage use of prohibited items and encourage certain behaviors, such as firearm registration and turning over stolen property to authorities.
Criminal possession is a legal theory that simply criminalizes possession of a prohibited item. Typically, possession must be “knowledgeable,” meaning that the person held criminally liable for such possession must have known that they were in possession of a legally prohibited item. Also, the accused party does not have to have the object on their person to be held liable. As long as the forbidden object is within their sphere of control, constructive possession can be established. There are many different policies behind criminal possession, although they are generally designed to discourage the use of prohibited items.
Criminal possession statutes typically only require the accused party to possess the item long enough that they can ascertain the nature of the item and have had an opportunity to get rid of it before becoming liable. Possession usually must be “know,” meaning that the accused party is aware of the illegality of the possession. The accused party cannot, however, use his unawareness of the nature of the object as a defense against criminal possession if he in fact avoided learning what the object actually was. If so, they will still be deemed to have knowingly possessed the item.
The fact that the prohibited item is “possessed” does not necessarily mean that the item is on the person of the accused party. As long as the object is under the defendant’s control, it is said to be “constructively” possessed. The concept of constructive possession comes into play most often when someone is stopped while driving and there is contraband in the car. The defendant can also be considered to have constructively possessed contraband that is located in his residence, although in residences with multiple tenants, the “control” can be inferred based on the particular living conditions.
Criminal possession statutes are typically designed to discourage the use of certain prohibited items, as is the case with statutes criminalizing the possession of illicit drugs, although governments use such statutes to encourage or discourage other behaviors as well. Statutes making it illegal to own a firearm without a license are designed to encourage firearm registration and discourage the illegal sale of firearms. The statutes of criminal possession of stolen property are designed to discourage the resale of such property and to encourage anyone who comes across such property to turn it over to the proper authorities.
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