Safe Havens

The specific offense of conviction must be identified.  If the statute of conviction contains only one offense, the task is simplified.  If, however, as often happens, the statutory section or subsection contains more than one offense, the specific offense of conviction among the several offenses defined by a particular statute must be identified.  Once the offense of conviction has been identified, the essential elements of the offense of conviction must be ascertained from the text of the statute as it existed on the date the offense was committed, and any judicial decisions altering the elements of the offense must also be incorporated in the text of the essential elements of the offense of conviction.