Inchoate Offenses

Question 1

Solicitation - Definition

Answer 1

Inciting, urging or otherwise asking another to commit a crime with the intent that hey commit he crime

• No affirmative response from the solicited party is required

Question 2

Solicitation - Merging With the Target Offense

Answer 2

Solicitation is complete when D asks solicitee to commit the felony

• If solicited agrees, it gives rise to conspiracy and the solicitation merges with the conspiracy (i.e. the only crime remaining is conspiracy)
• Does not matter if the solicited party is convicted or if the solicited crime was impossible to commit

Question 3

Solicitation - Defenses

Answer 3

Very few defenses apply to solicitation

• Refusal by the solicitee is not a defense
• Impossibility and withdrawal are NOT defenses
• MPC allows renunciation as a defense, but common law does not
  Most jurisdictions follow CL

Question 4

Conspiracy - Definition

Answer 4

An agreement between 2 or more people to commit a crime or unlawful objective

Question 5

Conspiracy - Required Elements (4)

Answer 5

1) An agreement between two or more people (i.e. “meeting of the minds”; express agreement not required / parties don’t need to know of each other’s existence)

2) Intent to enter into the agreement

3) Intent to commit the target crime or pursue the unlawful objective

4) An overt act in furtherance of the target crime (not required at common law)

Question 6

Conspiracy - Unilateral v. Bilateral

Answer 6

At CL, 2 or more people must have criminal intent, but MPC allows one party

• unless otherwise instructed apply CL

Question 7

Conspiracy - Termination

Answer 7

Conspiracy ends upon completion of the target crime

Question 8

Conspiracy - Defenses

Answer 8

Impossibility is not a defense to conspiracy

• Withdrawal is generally not a defense to conspiracy but may be a defense to liability for co-conspirators’ subsequent crimes

Question 9

Co-Conspirator Liability (2)

Answer 9

Each conspirator is liable for co-conspirators’ crimes that are

1) Foreseeable; and

2) Committed in furtherance of the conspiracy

Question 10

Conspiracy - Withdrawal

Answer 10

Under common law, one cannot withdraw from the conspiracy itself

• MPC allows withdrawal if the withdrawing party thwarts the conspiracy (e.g., by stopping it or notifying police)
• The withdrawing party must attempt to neutralize the effect of any assistance he provided to the original conspiracy

Question 11

Conspiracy - Withdrawal (Subsequent Crimes)

Answer 11

One can withdraw from co-conspirators’ subsequent crimes, including the target offense of the conspiracy

Question 12

Conspiracy - Withdrawal (Affirmative Act Required)

Answer 12

Withdrawal is effective when the withdrawing party makes an affirmative act that notifies his co-conspirators he is withdrawing

Question 13

Conspiracy - Withdrawal (Must be Timely)

Answer 13

Withdrawal must give enough time for co-conspirators to abandon plans for the target offense

Question 14

Attempt - Definition

Answer 14

An act, done with the specific intent to commit a crime, that constitutes an overt or substantial step towards committing the crime but falls short completing the crime

• i.e. an incomplete act that would be a crime if completed

Question 15

Attempt - Overt Act

Answer 15

D must commit an act beyond mere preparation

• D must take a substantial step towards committing the target crime
• Under common law standard, attempt requires an act that is dangerously close to success

Question 16

Attempt - Intent

Answer 16

D must specifically intend to commit a particular crime

Question 17

Attempt - Defenses

Answer 17

Legal impossibility is a defense to attempt

• Factual impossibility is not a defense
• Abandonment is not a defense – under majority rule, liability for attempt arises once D commits an overt act concurrently with the specific intent to commit a crime (i.e. D is liable for attempt before he can abandon the crime)