Essential Cases: Criminal Law provides a bridge between course textbooks and key case judgments. This case document summarizes the facts and decision in R v Geddes [1996] Crim LR 894, Court of Appeal. The document also included supporting commentary from author Jonathan Herring.
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R v Geddes [1996] Crim LR 894, Court of Appeal
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8. Inchoate offences
Michael J. Allen and Ian Edwards
Course-focused and contextual, Criminal Law provides a succinct overview of the key areas on the law curriculum balanced with thought-provoking contextual discussion. This chapter discusses inchoate crimes. A person does not break the criminal law simply by having evil thoughts. Where, however, a person takes steps towards effecting that plan to commit a substantive offence which is more than merely preparatory, he may in the process commit one of the inchoate crimes of attempt, conspiracy, or encouraging or assisting the commission of an offence. The chapter examines relevant offences in the Serious Crime Act 2007 concerning encouraging or assisting and the Act’s abolition of the offence of incitement. It outlines the legal protection from prosecution provided to particular vulnerable victims who might otherwise be liable for encouraging others to commit offences against them, such as some child victims of sexual offences. The chapter analyses the statutory offence of conspiracy and outlines common law offences of conspiracy to defraud and conspiracy to corrupt public morals or to outrage public decency. It examines the requirements for liability for attempt. ‘The law in context’ feature in this chapter examines critically the growing range of inchoate offences for terrorist offences.
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15. Inchoate offences
Without assuming prior legal knowledge, books in the Directions series introduce and guide readers through key points of law and legal debate. Questions, diagrams, and exercises help readers to engage fully with each subject and check their understanding as they progress. This chapter deals with liability for inchoate offences. ‘Inchoate’ means incomplete or undeveloped. Where, for whatever reason, the full criminal offence is not committed, the defendant may still be liable for an inchoate offence. There are three types of inchoate offence: encouraging or assisting crime, conspiracy, and attempt. There are three offences of encouraging or assisting crime under the Serious Crime Act 2007, namely intentionally encouraging or assisting an offence, encouraging or assisting an offence believing it will be committed, and encouraging or assisting offences believing one or more will be committed.
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19. Attempt
This chapter examines the law of attempts. It considers the precise mens rea for attempt: whether in addition to intending any result required for the crime, D must also intend the circumstances of the substantive offence in order to be guilty of attempting it; how far D’s acts must go in committing the substantive offence before he will be guilty of an attempt; whether the law criminalizes D who attempts to commit an offence even though on the facts it would have been impossible for him to commit the substantive offence; and reasons as to why it is appropriate to criminalize attempts to commit crimes.
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8. Inchoate offences
Michael J. Allen and Ian Edwards
Course-focused and comprehensive, the Textbook on series provides an accessible overview of the key areas on the law curriculum. This chapter discusses inchoate crimes. A person does not break the criminal law simply by having evil thoughts. Where, however, a person takes steps towards effecting that plan to commit a substantive offence which is more than merely preparatory, they may in the process commit one of the inchoate crimes of attempt, conspiracy, or encouraging or assisting the commission of an offence. The chapter examines relevant offences in the Serious Crime Act 2007 concerning encouraging or assisting and the Act’s abolition of the offence of incitement. It outlines the legal protection from prosecution provided to particular vulnerable victims who might otherwise be liable for encouraging others to commit offences against them, such as some child victims of sexual offences. The chapter analyses the statutory offence of conspiracy and outlines common law offences of conspiracy to defraud and conspiracy to corrupt public morals or to outrage public decency. It examines the requirements for liability for attempt. The Law in Context feature examines critically the growing range of inchoate offences for terrorist offences.
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11. Inchoate crime
David Ormerod and Karl Laird
Inchoate offences include attempts, conspiracies and assisting and encouraging under the Serious Crime Act 2007. Creating inchoate offences is difficult because the conduct involved will tend to be far removed from the type of harm necessary to charge a person under the relevant substantive offence. The actus reus of inchoate offences can encompass a wide range of behaviour, such as ‘an agreement’ in conspiracy or mere words of encouragement in assisting and encouraging. Given the broad nature of the actus reus, inchoates must be kept within reasonable limits by requirements of serious mens rea. This chapter deals with inchoate offences and considers the limits on liability for attempts of conspiracy and other secondary liability. It also discusses jurisdictional issues, common law conspiracies, procedural issues relating to conspiracies, encouragement and assistance under the Serious Crime Act 2007 and the impossibility of committing an inchoate crime.
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11. Inchoate crime
Inchoate offences include attempts, conspiracies, and encouraging or assisting crime under the Serious Crime Act 2007. Creating inchoate offences is difficult because the conduct involved will tend to be far removed from the type of harm necessary to charge a person under the relevant substantive offence. The actus reus of inchoate offences can encompass a wide range of behaviour, such as ‘an agreement’ in conspiracy or mere words of encouragement in encouraging or assisting. Given the broad nature of the actus reus, inchoates must be kept within reasonable limits by requirements of high thresholds of subjective mens rea. This chapter deals with inchoate offences and considers the limits on liability for attempts of conspiracy and other accessorial liability. It also discusses jurisdictional issues, common law conspiracies, procedural issues relating to conspiracies, encouragement, or assistance under the Serious Crime Act 2007, and the impossibility of committing an inchoate crime.
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12. Inchoate offences
This chapter examines different types of inchoate offences in England and Wales, which include attempt, conspiracy, and encouraging or assisting. It explains the conditions of liability for these offences, discusses the relevant provisions of the Serious Crime Act 2007, clarifies the general principles of these offences, and identifies their actus reus and mens rea elements. It also explores and clarifies the difference between these offences. The chapter discusses the three offences that replace the common law offence of incitement which apply to one who ‘facilitates’ another’s offence. Examples of relevant cases and analyses of court decisions in each of them are also provided.
