Incohate Crimes Flashcards
CL Conspiracy
a. 1)An agreement
b. 2)Between two or more people
c. 3)To commit an unlawful act
Modern Conspiracy
often add a fourth requirement: the overt act requirement
MPC conspiracy
- Only the defendant who actually has been charged must actually agree to commit the unlawful act. The other people with whom the defendant agrees can be undercover agents, for example.
a. Agreement can be explicit or implicit
b. Simply knowing a crime is going to occur and doing nothing about it does not turn a bystander into a co-conspirator; there must be an agreement.
Chain conspiracy
- A # of steps in a narrative chain
2. Each participant is liable for substantive crimes of co-conspirators
Spoke-Hub Conspiracy
- There is a central person that is dealing with many people on the periphery
- central person will be liable for all the crimes, but each of the spokes is treated as a separate crime. Therefore they will not be liable for each other’s crimes.
CL Withdrawl
impossible to withdraw from a conspiracy, because the crime is completed the moment the agreement is made.
Federal Rule withdrawal from conspiracy
- conspirator can withdraw prior to the commission of any overt act by communicating her intention to withdraw to all other conspirators or by informing law enforcement
MPC withdrawal from Conspiracy
- Under MPC, a conspirator who helps to thwart the success of a conspiracy can raise a withdrawal defense even after an overt act has occurred.
Although a D who tries to withdraw may remain liable for conspiracy (e.g., bc notification was not timely), that D will not be liable for any substantive crimes committed after his withdrawal.
Attempt
a. Specific intent to commit a particular criminal act; and
b. Taking a substantial step towards perpetrating the crime
i. Moves you down the road towards actually committing the crime
Attempt is a specific-intent crime always - even when the completed offense is only a general-intent or malice crime.
Defenses to attempt
- Defenses for specific-intent crimes can be used as a defense to an attempt crime as well.
- BC attempt is a specific-intent crime, certain defenses like voluntary intoxication and unreasonable mistake of fact are available even if they wouldn’t be had the crime been completed.
Merger & Attempt
- merges into a complete offense.
Solicitation
- Occurs when an individual intentionally invites, requests, or commands another person to commit a crime
a. If the person agrees, we have a conspiracy
b. If person commits offense, solicitation charge will merge into completed offense