Also known as: voluntary act · voluntariness · voluntary act requirement
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A foundational requirement in criminal law that liability for an offense must rest on conduct including a voluntary act or an omission the person is physically capable of performing.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Victoria Vernon spots a worker diverting sludge into a drain at the treatment plant. She considers pressing the alarm but pauses briefly while dizzy from fumes and weighing an exemption. Her conscious choice not to act supplies the voluntary act needed for liability analysis.
Victor Vale strikes a parked car and briefly considers stopping. He then consciously decides to drive away without checking for injuries or notifying police. The deliberate choice to depart supplies the voluntary act for criminal liability analysis.
Vanessa Vale receives a subpoena for financial documents. She intentionally feeds the ledgers into a shredder before agents arrive. The purposeful destruction constitutes the voluntary act supporting obstruction charges.
Victor Vale sits alone in an interview room for several hours. He then consciously picks up the pen and writes out a narrative admitting the theft. The affirmative act of writing supplies the voluntary act element under the statute.
Vanessa Vale invokes counsel during questioning about exam theft. After counsel fails to appear she re-enters the room the next morning and answers further questions. Her decision to speak constitutes the voluntary act needed for admissibility analysis.
Violet Vale learns officers are en route and deliberately relocates the marked cash to another room. The intentional relocation supplies the voluntary act supporting tampering charges.
Liability requires conduct that includes a voluntary act or a capable omission. Reflexes, convulsions, and movements during sleep or unconsciousness are excluded. Possession counts as a voluntary act when the person is aware of control for a sufficient period to terminate it.
Supporting sources
…resting on a compelled confession, Wan v. United States , 266 U. S. 1. He stated: "In the federal courts, the requisite of voluntariness is not satisfied by establishing merely that the confession was not induced by a promise or a threat. A confession is voluntary in law if, and only if, it was, in fact, voluntarily made. A…