p. 52114. Inchoate offences
- Richard CardRichard CardEmeritus Professor of Law, De Montfort University, Leicester
- and Jill MolloyJill MolloySenior Lecturer in Law, Birmingham City University
Abstract
A person is criminally liable not only if he actually commits or participates in substantive offences, but also if he encourages or assists the commission of an offence, or conspires with others to commit an offence or attempts to commit an offence. Encouraging or assisting crime, conspiracy to commit a crime and attempt to commit a crime are statutory offences. They are known as inchoate offences (that is, incomplete or undeveloped). There are three offences of encouraging or assisting crime: intentionally encouraging or assisting an offence, encouraging or assisting an offence with the belief that it will be committed, and encouraging or assisting offences with the belief that one or more will be committed. These three offences replaced the common law offence of incitement. The chapter also discusses the common law offences of conspiracy to defraud and conspiracy to corrupt public morals.
Keywords
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Note: An update has been made available on the Online Resource Centre (March 2017).
