Chapter 4: Anticipatory / Inchoate Offenses Flashcards
Inchoate
Comes from the Latin word inchoare / incohare which means, literally, to begin.
Inchoate crime
Anticipatory crime / offense
Anticipatory crime / offense
Crimes that are incomplete or failed
3 main common inchoate offenses
- Criminal attempt
- Criminal solicitation
- Criminal conspiracy
3 main reasons for making inchoate acts criminal offenses
- Law enforcement personnel must be able to intervene prior to the commission of a substantive crime.
- Acts done in preparation of a criminal act point to the defendant’s inclination to commit a crime.
- Preparatory acts should not go unpunished just because the perpetrator was not able to finish the criminal act.
2 elements of attempt
- The specific intent to commit a crime.
- An act or conduct in furtherance of the intent to commit the crime that goes beyond mere preparation = substantial steps
7 types of substantial steps
- Lying in wait, searching / following victim
- Enticing, seeking to entice the victim to go where the crime will be committed
- Reconnoitering the place where the crime will occur
- Unlawfully entering a structure, vehicle, or enclosure that is the contemplated scene of the crime
- Possessing materials to be used in a crime that were designed for the crime or that under the circumstances serve no lawful purpose
- 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
- Soliciting an innocent agent to engage in conduct constituting an element of the crime
2 categories of criminal attempt
- When the accused has completed all the planned actions towards the crime but has failed to complete the substantive crime.
- 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.
Specific intent to commit a crime
The primary element of criminal attempt requires two types of intent on the part of the accused to occur simultaneously
- Demonstrating the intent to commit the act(s) or to cause the result constituting the crime of attempt
- Demonstrating the intent required to commit the substantive offense
Problems in attempt
- Legal impossibility
- Factual impossibility
- Abandonment
Legal impossibility
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.
Factual impossibility
A person can be found guilty of the crime of attempt even if it was factually impossible to commit the crime.
Abandonment
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.
Solicitation Definition via Model Penal Code (MPC)
“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”
Two elements of solicitation
- 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
- 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
Problems with solicitation
Communication to another party
Request to commit a legal act
Withdrawal of a solicitation
4 elements of conspiracy
- An agreement between two or more persons
- With specific intent (for the purpose of)
- Achieving an unlawful objective or achieving a lawful objective in an unlawful manner
- The commission of an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy
Specific intent
At its core, the very definition of conspiracy appear to require two separate and distinct patterns of intent or thought
- 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.
- All parties involved must have the same intent as it relates to the crime in question.
Accomplice
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.
Accessory
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.
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?
Common Law test
According to the above video on solicitation, which of the following crimes are most common in regards to solicitation?
Prostitution
Based on the above video about conspiracy, which of the following is NOT one of the characteristics of the modern approach?
Broad definition
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.
True
True / False: Mere knowledge is enough for conspiratorial liability
False
