Which term is Latin for the body of the crime?

• A. Indicia
• B. Actus reus
• C. Corpus delicti
• D. TLO

Answer: (C)

Corpus delicti is the body of the crime—the essential facts that prove a crime actually occurred. It links the offense to real events, not just a person’s statements, by requiring independent evidence of both the criminal act and the resulting harm. In other words, you must show that a crime happened and that someone committed it, through the facts of the case, before a conviction. For homicide, that means proving someone died and another person caused the death; for theft, proving property was taken and that the taking violated the owner’s rights. Other terms don’t capture this full concept: actus reus is only the guilty act itself, indicia are signs or evidence, and TLO is unrelated to this legal idea.