Chapter 4: Anticipatory / Inchoate Offenses

Question 1

Inchoate

Answer 1

Comes from the Latin word inchoare / incohare which means, literally, to begin.

Question 2

Inchoate crime

Answer 2

Anticipatory crime / offense

Question 3

Anticipatory crime / offense

Answer 3

Crimes that are incomplete or failed

Question 4

3 main common inchoate offenses

Answer 4

1. Criminal attempt
2. Criminal solicitation
3. Criminal conspiracy

Question 5

3 main reasons for making inchoate acts criminal offenses

Answer 5

1. Law enforcement personnel must be able to intervene prior to the commission of a substantive crime.
2. Acts done in preparation of a criminal act point to the defendant’s inclination to commit a crime.
3. Preparatory acts should not go unpunished just because the perpetrator was not able to finish the criminal act.

Question 6

2 elements of attempt

Answer 6

1. The specific intent to commit a crime.
2. An act or conduct in furtherance of the intent to commit the crime that goes beyond mere preparation = substantial steps

Question 7

7 types of substantial steps

Answer 7

1. Lying in wait, searching / following victim
2. Enticing, seeking to entice the victim to go where the crime will be committed
3. Reconnoitering the place where the crime will occur
4. Unlawfully entering a structure, vehicle, or enclosure that is the contemplated scene of the crime
5. Possessing materials to be used in a crime that were designed for the crime or that under the circumstances serve no lawful purpose
6. Possessing, collecting, or fabricating material to be used in the commission of a crime at or near the scene of the crime, where such possession, collection, or fabrication serves no lawful purpose
7. Soliciting an innocent agent to engage in conduct constituting an element of the crime

Question 8

2 categories of criminal attempt

Answer 8

1. When the accused has completed all the planned actions towards the crime but has failed to complete the substantive crime.
2. When the accused has not completed all planned actions towards the crime and for that reason, in particular, has failed to complete the substantive crime.

Question 9

Specific intent to commit a crime

Answer 9

The primary element of criminal attempt requires two types of intent on the part of the accused to occur simultaneously

1. Demonstrating the intent to commit the act(s) or to cause the result constituting the crime of attempt
2. Demonstrating the intent required to commit the substantive offense

Question 10

Problems in attempt

Answer 10

1. Legal impossibility
2. Factual impossibility
3. Abandonment

Question 11

Legal impossibility

Answer 11

A person cannot be punished for making the attempt to do something that is not specified as a crime, even if the person misunderstands the law and believes it is a crime.

Question 12

Factual impossibility

Answer 12

A person can be found guilty of the crime of attempt even if it was factually impossible to commit the crime.

Question 13

Abandonment

Answer 13

The defense of abandonment occurs when the accused voluntarily made the decision to abandon or quit any further steps towards the commission of the crime. This abandonment must be complete and absolute, not a temporary postponement. This defense is not recognized in all of the states.

Question 14

Solicitation Definition via Model Penal Code (MPC)

Answer 14

“With the purpose of promoting or facilitating a crime, commands, encourages, or requests another to engage in specific conduct which would constitute the crime or an attempt to commit a crime”

Question 15

Two elements of solicitation

Answer 15

1. The intent that another person / party commit the crime

The accused must intend that another person commit a crime and must act on this intent by attemptin to communicate in some form to another person

This communication must inform the other person that the defendant desires the other part to engage in illegal conduct

2. Asking, encouraging, or requesting another to commit a crime

Only the spoken words or communicated thoughts necessary

The other party does not have to act to make the crime complete

Question 16

Problems with solicitation

Answer 16

Communication to another party

Request to commit a legal act

Withdrawal of a solicitation

Question 17

4 elements of conspiracy

Answer 17

1. An agreement between two or more persons
2. With specific intent (for the purpose of)
3. Achieving an unlawful objective or achieving a lawful objective in an unlawful manner
4. The commission of an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy

Question 18

Specific intent

Answer 18

At its core, the very definition of conspiracy appear to require two separate and distinct patterns of intent or thought

1. Because the definition of conspiracy requires an agreement, each party involved must have the intent to enter into the agreement to commit the same crime.
2. All parties involved must have the same intent as it relates to the crime in question.

Question 19

Accomplice

Answer 19

An accomplice is a person who assists or promotes another to commit a crime.

By soliciting another to commit a crime, aiding, agreeing to aid, or attempts to aid in planning/committing the offense, or having the duty to prevent the offense, fails to do so.

Question 20

Accessory

Answer 20

An accessory is one who, after an offense has been committed, aids, conceals, or warns a principal with the intent that the principal avoid arrest, prosecution, conviction, or punishment for the crime.

Question 21

According to the above video on criminal attempt, which of the following is NOT one of the common law tests that was relied on from the time of old law?

Answer 21

Common Law test

Question 22

According to the above video on solicitation, which of the following crimes are most common in regards to solicitation?

Answer 22

Prostitution

Question 23

Based on the above video about conspiracy, which of the following is NOT one of the characteristics of the modern approach?

Answer 23

Broad definition

Question 24

True / False: To apply a conspiracy charge, the specific intent for both intent to the conduct and intent to the result of the conduct are required.

Answer 24

True

Question 25

True / False: Mere knowledge is enough for conspiratorial liability

Answer 25

False