Criminal Law II

Please Lord help me

Three inchoate crimes

Solicitation, Conspiracy, Attempt

Definition of inchoate crimes

Not fully formed or developed crimes

• Equally culpable

• Allows for earlier police intervention

Inchoate crimes: Basic Principles

No such things as just attempt or criminal attempt

• must be connected with another crime

Attempt: Mens Rea and Actus Reus

Mens Rea: Intent to commit target crime

• Specific intent: intent to achieve some result beyond the conduct of the crime itself

• Cannot be negligence crime

Actus Reus: Common Law: Dangerous Proximity

• Mere prep is not enough BUT doesnt need to be the final step towards the crime

Actus Reus: MPC

• Substantial step

• Majority position

Additional Notes:

• Been held that it is permissible to charge and convict for attempt to commit a crime (like burglary) which is defined in terms of doing an act with intent to commit some other crime

• Dangerous Proximity line

  • Dangerous proximity to success

  • Account must be take of ““the gravity of the crime, the uncertainty of the result, and the seriousness of the apprehension coupled with the great harm likely to result”

Conspiracy Definition

Agreement between 2 or more persons to commit an unlawful act [or lawful act by unlawful means] and [an overt act in furtherance thereof]

• Comes before attempt

Purpose of crime of conspiracy

• Early intervention

• Group danger

Procedural Benefits for Prosecutors for Conspiracy

1. Venus

2. Statute of Limitations

3. Hearsay Rules

4. Joint Trial

Scope of Conspiracy

Agreement is an essential element of every conspiracy has two dimensions: the persons privy thereto, and the objectives encompassed therein

• MPC provides that there is but one conspiracy if the multiple crimes are the object of the same agreement or continuous conspiratorial relationship 

• Party dimension: Distinguish between two different structures of conspiracy

  • Wheel/circle conspiracy: there is a single person or group (hub) dealing individually with two or more other persons or groups (spokes) with legitimate business operations between manufacturer and wholesaler, then wholesaler and retailer, and then retailer and consumer

  • Chain conspiracy: involving the distribution of narcotics or other contraband, in which there is successive communication and cooperation in much the same way as 

Mens Rea and Actus Reus of Conspiracy

Mens Rea:

• Dual intent:

  • Intent to agree

  • Intent to achieve object crime/wrong

    • Specific Intent: “All conspiracy to commit murder id nrcessarily conspiracy to commit premeditsted and deliberated first-degree murder, adn that all murder conspiracies are punishabel in the same manner as murder in the first degree” Cortez

    • Qualifying Object:

      • Common law: Any agreement to commit an unlawful act OR lawful act by unlawful means 

      • Modern view: Only agreement to pursue criminla objective warrants criminal conspiracy liability 

    • It is possible for one to become a party to a crime directly committed by another without there being any agreement or communication of any kind between the two persons 

  • Corrupt Motive

    • Conspirators must know of facts that make object unlawful

    • Must know of illegality of object; ignorance gen. no excuse

Actus Reus

• Agreement; express agreement not needed

  • May be circumstantial evidence

• Overt act by one conspirator (Majority)

  • Short of a substantial step for attempt

  • The Court regards the overt act merely as evidence of the offense but this has not always been the rule and is currently not in some states

Conspiracy: Malum in Se/Malum Prohibitum

• In se: need not know of the illegality 

• Prohibitum: Must know 

• A co-conspirator who never verbally agreed to anything who never actually did anything concrete in furtherance of conspiracy could be liable for plotting to commit some action

• Liability without fault

  • Even if what was done under an agreement has been made unlawful on a liability without fault basis, there can be no conviction for conspiracy unless it is shown that the parties actually intended to achieve what was done

Conspiracy : Mens Rea - Goods/Services Suppliers

• One issue that occurs sometimes where supplier of goods/services is accused of conspiring to commit a crime or wrong by virtue of the fact they they provided their goods/services to people who were conspiring to commit or were carrying out criminal conduct 

  • Mere knowledge of illegality insufficient 

• Intent may be inferred from factors 

  • Nature of goods can bear on whether its fair to infer the supplier’s intent to promote conspiracy if the goods are acquired anywhere are are normally used for legitimate purposes 

• Plurality of intent

  • Although some of the decisions seem to suggest that when a person joins a group enterprise he is by that fact alone shown to have the same intentions as the others, it must be remembered that the question of whether the requisite intent was present just be separately considered as to the individual who si alleged to be a member of the conspiracy

RICO - Racketeer Influence and Corrupt Organization

• Racketeer Influence and Corrupt Organizations Act of 1970

• It is “unlawful for any person employed by or associated with any enterprise engaged in, or the activities of which affect, interstate or foreign commerce, to conduct of participate, directly or indirectly, in the conduct of such enterprise’s affairs through a patter of racketeering activity or collection of unlawful debt