Of Interest: "An element of a crime (collectively called elements of crime) is a basic set of common law principles regarding criminal liability that, with few exceptions, constitute the essential elements to prove that the defendant committed a crime under United States law. The jury must be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant committed each element of the particular crime charged before deciding on a guilty verdict. The component parts that make up any particular crime vary depending on the crime.

The basic components are listed below. However, the two necessary elements that must coexist for a crime to exist is that the defendant must have committed an act and that act must have been committed intentionally."  (Source: Wikipedia.org)