Inchoate Crimes

Discussion 2

INCHOATE CRIMES

These are crimes that are associated with people or legal entities with a tendency to commit crimes or those which participate indirectly. Inchoate crimes are not actual crimes but they qualify to be crimes since the alleged person(s) can conduct the actual crimes given the opportunity and necessary resources. According to the law of the United States of America, an attempt to commit a wrongful act is considered as the closest to committing the actual crime. This type of crimes also combines the cats of conspiracy to commit a crime and the actual committing of the crime (US Legal Staff, 2016). Threats and challenges can also be classified under inchoate crimes. For example, a person can be charged with conspiracy to murder if he or she performs death threats.  The American law does not allow a person to be charged with an inchoate crime and the actual crime at the same time except in a situation where conspiracy is present.

The acts of solicitation can also qualify to be inchoate crimes. This is a case whereby a person can have the intent to engage another person in crime in the form of commanding, forcing, requests persuade or any other trick for engagement. In these types of crimes, there is adequate Mens Rea but inadequate Actus Reus (US Legal Staff, 2016). That is, the defendant has the intent of committing a crime but does not commit the actual act (US Legal Staff, 2016).  This is a major challenge which affects the courts in determining the fate of the alleged person(s). This is because the law defines a crime with the presence of Mens Rea in the Actus Reus whereby the two must accompany each other so as to prove that a certain act is actually criminal and the alleged person is actually guilty.

Bibliography

Samaha, J. (2017). Criminal Law. St.Paul, Minnesota: Cengage Learning.

US Legal Staff. (2016, Feb 11). US Legal. Retrieved May 31, 2017, from Criminal Law: Inchoate Crimes: https://criminallaw.uslegal.com/incohate-crimes/