Chapter 7- Parties and Inchoate Offenses

PARTIES TO CRIMES
Parties: participants in a crime
Principal: a person directly involved with committing a crime
- 1st degree: participant who actually committed the act
- 2nd degree: a party who aids, counsels, assists, or encourages the 1st degree participant
during commission of the crime
o Must be present during the crime, however, constructive presence sufficient,
such as waiting outside in a get-away car
o Also referred to as accomplices
Accessory before the fact: anyone who aids, counsels, encourages, or assists in the preparation of
a crime, but is not physically present during the crime
- Grouped together with both types of principals and punished equally
- Mens rea for all accomplices before and during act: knowing or purposeful
o Negligent and reckless acts dont make someone a principal in 2nd degree or
accessory
Accessory after the fact: aid, comfort, or shelter is provided to a criminal with the purpose of
assisting the criminal in avoiding arrest or prosecution after the crime is committed and the
accessory was not present during the commission of the crime
- Not punished as severely as the other 3 parties
- To prove, must show defendant was aware of the persons criminal status and
intended to hinder arrest/prosecution attempts of the criminal
INCHOATE CRIMES
- Uncompleted crimes
- Officers may prevent a planned criminal act from occurring without fear of losing a
conviction
Attempt
- An effort to commit a crime that goes beyond preparation and the proceeds far
enough to make the person who did it guilty of an attempt crime
- Meant to deter people from planning crimes and allow police to permit illegal acts
o Dont have to wait for them to commit the actual crime to convict
- Mens rea: Defendant must intend to commit a crime: knowingly or purposefully
- Actus reus: Defendant must take some act in furtherance of that intent
o How close to completion is required?
Proximity test: how many acts are left until crime is completed? Must
be a dangerous proximity
Res ips loquitur: finds the point in which the defendant has no other
purpose than the commission of that crime
Probable desistance: the likelihood that the defendant would have
followed through with the crime were there opportunity
Substantial step under MPC: one is guilty if substantial steps have
been taken towards commission

Defenses
o Abandonment can be a defense: defendant had a change of heart, must be
voluntary
o Legal impossibility: a situation when a defendant believes that his acts are
illegal when they are not, even if they had an evil mind
o Factual impossibility: situations when people attempt to commit a crime, but it
is impossible to do so
Rarely accepted as a defense
Conspiracy
- An agreement between 2 or more persons to commit an unlawful act or a lawful act in
an unlawful manner
- Actus reus: the agreement
- Mens rea: intent to enter an agreement and intent to commit the act
o Agreement can be inferred from the actions
o Jurisdictions differ on what can be accepted as the actus reus
- At least 2 people must join in the agreement
o Concert of action rule: 2 people cant be convicted of conspiracy if the crime
they are planning to commit takes 2 or more people by definition
- Withdrawal: if the jurisdiction requires an overt act as well as the agreement from
actus reus, then withdrawal is an accepted defense, but only if it occurs before it is too
late to stop the crime from happening
- Not a violation of the 5th amendment to prosecute both a crime and a conspiracy to
commit that crime
- Co-conspirator hearsay rule: statements by a member of a proven conspiracy may be
used as evidence against any of the members of the conspiracy
o Hearsay evidence: a statement about what someone else communicated,
normally inadmissible
- If 2 involved, both must be convicted or acquitted, cant have one of each
o If a group conspired, at least 2 must be convicted, the rest are able to be
acquitted
Solicitation
- Encouraging, requesting, or commanding of another to commit a crime
- Person must intend to convince another to commit an offense
- Solicitation itself is the crime, no further act needed