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🎧 EPISODE SUMMARY 🎧Criminal liability can arise before, during, or around completion of an offense.
Key doctrines include:
Attempt.
Solicitation.
Conspiracy.
Attempt requires specific intent to commit the target offense plus acts beyond preparation.
For example, attempted murder requires intent to kill; recklessness is insufficient.
Attempt tests include:
The last-act test requires conduct at the final step.
The dangerous-proximity test evaluates how close the defendant came to completion.
The unequivocality test requires conduct that unambiguously shows criminal purpose.
The MPC substantial-step test requires a substantial step strongly corroborating criminal purpose.
Factual impossibility is not a defense, whereas legal impossibility traditionally may be.
Abandonment is generally not recognized at common law once complete, though the MPC recognizes voluntary renunciation.
Solicitation occurs upon asking another to commit a crime with intent that it be committed.
Conspiracy requires an agreement and intent to achieve the unlawful objective, plus an overt act where required.
Common law uses a bilateral approach requiring two culpable parties, while the MPC allows a unilateral conspiracy.
Pinkerton liability holds conspirators liable for foreseeable co-conspirator crimes in furtherance of the conspiracy.
Withdrawal from a conspiracy does not erase past liability but may limit future crimes.
Attempt and solicitation merge into the completed offense, but conspiracy does not.
Accomplice liability requires intentional assistance or encouragement; mere presence or knowledge is insufficient.
An accessory after the fact assists a felon only after the crime is completed to hinder arrest or prosecution.
Each theory of criminal responsibility must be precisely identified.
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