Intoxication is a defense to what type of crime?

• A. Strict liability
• B. General intent
• C. Malice
• D. Specific intent

Answer: (D)

Intoxication affects whether you formed a specific mental state required for certain crimes. It serves as a defense when the offense needs a particular intent to achieve a certain result. If voluntary intoxication prevents you from forming that precise intent, you may avoid conviction for that specific intent element, even though you might still be liable for other related offenses stemming from the act.

Offenses that do not require that exact mental state—strict liability crimes, where the act itself is enough for guilt—are not defensible by intoxication. General intent crimes require awareness that your actions are likely to cause a result or are unlawful; intoxication typically does not negate that broader intent. Crimes based on malice involve a reckless or wrongful disregard for life or safety, which intoxication also does not normally excuse.

Note that involuntary intoxication can sometimes be a defense to any crime if it negates the necessary mental state. But, in the standard scenario, intoxication best serves as a defense to specific intent crimes.