An inchoate offense, preliminary crime, inchoate crime or incomplete crime is a

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definiti ...

of preparing for or seeking to commit another crime. The most common example of an inchoate offense is "

attempt An attempt to commit a crime occurs if a criminal has an intent to commit a crime and takes a substantial step toward completing the crime, but for reasons not intended by the criminal, the final resulting crime does not occur.''Criminal Law - ...

". "Inchoate offense" has been defined as the following: "Conduct deemed criminal without actual harm being done, provided that the harm that would have occurred is one the law tries to prevent."See lists and chapters of texts at McCord and McCord, ''Infra,'' pp. 185-213, and Schmalleger, ''Infra'', pp. 105-161, 404.

Intent

Every inchoate crime or offense must have the ''

mens rea In criminal law, (; Law Latin for "guilty mind") is the mental state of a defendant who is accused of committing a crime. In common law jurisdictions, most crimes require proof both of ''mens rea'' and '' actus reus'' ("guilty act") before th ...

'' of intent or of recklessness, typically intent. Absent a specific law, an inchoate offense requires that the defendant have the specific intent to commit the underlying crime. For example, for a defendant to be guilty of the inchoate crime of solicitation of murder, he or she must have intended for a person to die.

Attempt An attempt to commit a crime occurs if a criminal has an intent to commit a crime and takes a substantial step toward completing the crime, but for reasons not intended by the criminal, the final resulting crime does not occur.''Criminal Law - ...

conspiracy A conspiracy, also known as a plot, ploy, or scheme, is a secret plan or agreement between people (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder, treason, or corruption, especially with a political motivat ...

, and solicitation all require ''mens rea''. On the other hand, committing an offense under the US

Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act is a United States federal law that provides for extended criminal penalties and a civil cause of action for acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization. RICO was e ...

merely requires "knowing", that is, recklessness. Facilitation also requires "believing", yet another way of saying reckless. Intent may be distinguished from recklessness and

criminal negligence In criminal law, criminal negligence is an offence that involves a breach of an objective standard of behaviour expected of a defendant. It may be contrasted with strictly liable offences, which do not consider states of mind in determining c ...

as a higher ''mens rea''.

Proof of intent

Specific intent may be inferred from circumstances. It may be proven by the doctrine of "dangerous proximity", while the Model Penal Code requires a "substantial step in a course of conduct".

Merger doctrine

The doctrine of merger has been abandoned in many jurisdictions in cases involving a conspiracy, allowing an accused to be convicted of both conspiracy and the principal offense. However, an accused cannot be convicted of either attempt or solicitation and the principal offense.

Defenses

A number of defenses are possible to the charge of an inchoate offense, depending on the jurisdiction and the nature of the offense.

Impossibility

Impossibility is no defense to the crime of attempt where the conditions creating the impossibility are unknown to the actor. Originally at common law, impossibility was a complete defense; as it was under French law at one point. Indeed, the ruling in ''Collins's Case'' L. and C. 471 was that an offender cannot be guilty of an attempt to steal his own umbrella when he mistakenly believes that it belongs to another. Although the "moral guilt" for the attempt and the actual crime were the same, there was a distinction between the harm caused by a theft and the harmlessness of an impossible act. This principle was directly overruled in England with the rulings ''R v Ring'' and ''R v. Brown'' The example from ''R v Brown'' of an attempt to steal from an empty pocket is now a classic example of illustrating the point that impossibility is no defense to the crime of attempt when the conditions creating the impossibility are unknown to the actor. This principle has been codified in the Model Penal Code:

A person is guilty of an attempt to commit a crime if, acting with the kind of culpability otherwise required for commission of the crime he: purposely engages in conduct which would constitute the crime ''if the attendant circumstances were as he believes them to be.'' MPC § 5.01 (1)(a) (emphasis added).

Consequently, the principle is universal in the United States either in Model Penal Code jurisdictions (40 states) or those remaining common law jurisdictions influenced by the reasoning in ''R v Brown''. Other cases that illustrate the case law for impossibility defenses are '' People v. Lee Kong'' (CA, 1892), '' State v. Mitchell'' (MO, 1902), and '' United States v. Thomas (1962)''.

Abandonment

A defendant may plead and prove, as an affirmative defense, that they: * Stopped all actions in furtherance of the crime or conspiracy * Tried to stop the crime as it was ongoing * Tried to convince the co-conspirators to halt such actions, or reported the crime to the police or other authorities

Disputes

Burglaries as inchoate crimes

There is some scholarly treatment of burglaries in

American law The law of the United States comprises many levels of codified and uncodified forms of law, of which the supreme law is the nation's Constitution, which prescribes the foundation of the federal government of the United States, as well as v ...

as inchoate crimes, but this is in dispute. According to scholar Frank Schmalleger, burglaries "are actually inchoate crimes in disguise." Frank Schmalleger, ''Criminal Law Today: An Introduction with Capstone Cases,'' p. 110, (Upper Saddle River: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2006) , citing Joshua Dressler, ''Understanding Criminal Law,'' 2nd ed., (Boston:Matthew Bender, 1995), p. 351. Other scholars warn about the consequences of such a theory: Certainly, ''possession of burglary tools'', in those jurisdictions that criminalize that activity, creates an inchoate crime ('' going equipped'' in the UK).See Schmalleger, ''Supra'', p. 404. It is clear that:

Examples

Examples of inchoate offenses include

, solicitation, facilitation,

misprision of felony Misprision of felony is a form of misprision, and an offence under the common law of England that is no longer active in many common law countries. Where it was or is active, it is classified as a misdemeanor. It consists of failing to report k ...

(and misprision generally),

organized crime Organized crime is a category of transnational organized crime, transnational, national, or local group of centralized enterprises run to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally thought of as a f ...

(RICO), and

, as well as some

public health Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals". Analyzing the de ...

crimes; see the list below.

List of inchoate offenses

* Being an accessory *

—see '' State v. Mitchell'' * Compounding a felony * Compounding treason *

Conspiracy A conspiracy, also known as a plot, ploy, or scheme, is a secret plan or agreement between people (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder, treason, or corruption, especially with a political motivat ...

* Criminal facilitation *

Incitement In criminal law, incitement is the encouragement of another person to commit a crime. Depending on the jurisdiction, some or all types of incitement may be illegal. Where illegal, it is known as an inchoate offense, where harm is intended but ma ...

Mail and wire fraud Mail fraud and wire fraud are terms used in the United States to describe the use of a physical (e.g., the U.S. Postal Service) or electronic (e.g., a phone, a telegram, a fax, or the Internet) mail system to defraud another, and are U.S. feder ...

* Misprision *

Misprision of felony Misprision of felony is a form of misprision, and an offence under the common law of England that is no longer active in many common law countries. Where it was or is active, it is classified as a misdemeanor. It consists of failing to report k ...

* Misprision of treason * Offenses under the

(RICO) * Solicitation *

Stalking Stalking is unwanted and/or repeated surveillance or contact by an individual or group toward another person. Stalking behaviors are interrelated to harassment and intimidation and may include following the victim in person or monitorin ...

* Theftbote * Treason Act 1429 -

high treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its d ...

to threaten

arson Arson is the act of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, watercr ...

for

blackmail Blackmail is a criminal act of coercion using a threat. As a criminal offense, blackmail is defined in various ways in common law jurisdictions. In the United States, blackmail is generally defined as a crime of information, involving a thr ...

References

External links

* O'Connor, T. (2010-08-15)
"Incomplete (Inchoate) Crimes"
. MegaLinks in Criminal Justice. {{Types of crime