Chapter 5 Inchoate Offenses

Introduction Inchoate Offense – underdeveloped or unripened. Involving activity or steps directed toward the completion of a crime.

Attempt Attempt – an intent to commit a crime coupled with an act that goes beyond mere preparation toward the commission of that offense. Most frequently charged of the inchoate crimes. Substantial Step – significant step toward completion of an intended result. Preparatory Conduct – actions taken to prepare to commit a crime. Target Crime – crime that is the object of a conspiracy.

Attempt Defenses to the Crime of Attempt Legal impossibility – defense allowed in some jurisdictions when although the defendant intended to commit a crime, it was impossible to do so because the completed act is not a crime. Factual impossibility – that which is in fact impossible to achieve.

Solicitation Solicitation – inchoate offense of requesting or encouraging someone to engage in illegal conduct. Solicitation is distinguished from conspiracy because although solicitation requires an enticement, conspiracy requires an agreement.

Conspiracy Conspiracy – agreement by two or more people to accomplish a criminal act or to use unlawful means to accomplish a noncriminal objective.

Conspiracy The Act Element in Conspiracy The actus reus of the crime of conspiracy is the unlawful agreement. Where an overt act is required, such act doesn’t need to be a substantial movement toward the target offense. A single act such as a telephone conversation arranging a meeting has been held to be sufficient proof of an overt act.

Conspiracy The Requisite Criminal Intent The prosecution must prove that a defendant intended to further the unlawful object of the conspiracy, and such intent must exist in the minds of at least two of the parties to the alleged conspiracy. The participants in a conspiracy need not even know or see one another as long as they otherwise participate in common deeds.

Conspiracy The Pinkerton Rule The trial court instructed the jury that it could find Pinkerton guilty if it found he was a party to a conspiracy and the offenses were in furtherance of the conspiracy. Pinkerton was convicted and on review the U.S. Supreme Court upheld his conviction, stating that a member of a conspiracy is liable for all offenses committed in furtherance of the conspiracy.

Conspiracy Wharton’s Rule – two people cannot conspire to commit a crime such as adultery, incest, or bigamy because these offenses require only two participants. The rationale is that the offenses named do not endanger the public generally.