Attempt

Question 1

Common Law: Mens Rea (Attempt)

Answer 1

defendant must have the specific intent to commit the crime.

• Under the common law, attempt is a specific intent offense.

Y

Question 2

Common Law: Actus Reus (Attempt)

Answer 2

• the physical proximity test.

The defendant must have committed an overt act that directly tended towards the completion of the crime.

Question 3

MPC 5.01(c): Attempt

Answer 3

Acting with the kind of culpability required for the crime, the individual -

• Intentionally does or omits to do anything that, under the circumstances as he believes them to be, is an act or omission that constitutes a substantial step in the crime.

Question 4

MPC: What is a Substantial Step?

Answer 4

• Conduct that strongly corroborates [or supports] the defendant’s criminal purpose.
• Considered in light of the totality of the circumstances.
• Examples include lying in wait, following a victim, or possession of materials to commit the act. Enticing the victim, Unlawful entry of a car or structure.

Question 5

Illinois Attempt: Common Law + MPC

Answer 5

A person commits the offense of attempt when -

1) With intent to commit a specific offense
2) He or she does any act that constitutes a substantial step toward the commission of that offense.

Question 6

“Mere Preparation”

Answer 6

Mere preparation is not a substantial step.

Preparation is thinking about committing the crime, talking about it, or planning in the abstract to do it, while perpetration is taking an action that puts the plan in motion and that would result in the intended crime.

Question 7

(Affirmative Defense) Attempt: Abandonment & MPC

Answer 7

The defendant must show:

1) a complete and voluntary renunciation of his criminal purpose,
2) not motivated by the probability of detection.
3) Renunciation is not complete if motivated by a decision to postpone the criminal conduct until a more advantageous time.

Question 8

defendant’s misapprehension of the circumstances (Impossibility)

Answer 8

When a defendant has done all he believes necessary to cause a particular result, he has committed an attempt.

• Defendant’s misapprehension of the facts = not a defense.
• Man with aids, bites another, thinking it will kill him (attempted murder)
• Factual / Legal impossibility = NOT A DEFENSE.
• Focus on Defendant’s understanding of the circumstances as HE believes them TO BE.

Question 9

MPC: Criminal Attempt (Definition)

Answer 9

A person is guilty of an attempt to commit a crime if:
- acting with the kind of culpability otherwise required for the crime, he:

a) purposely engages in conduct that would constitute a crime if the attendant circumstances were as he believes them to be (Impossibility = not a defense)
b) when causing a particular result is an element of the crime, does or omits to do anything with the purpose of causing or with the belief that it will cause such a result without further conduct on his part; or
c) purposely does or omits to do anything, that under the circumstances as he believes them to be, is an act or omission constituting a substantial step in a course of conduct planned to culminate in the commission of the crime.