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Article 121-7 distinguishes, in its two paragraphs, complicity by aiding or abetting and complicity by instigation. It thus states that: The accomplice to a felony or misdemeanor is the person who, by aiding or abetting, facilitates its preparation or commission.
First, the accomplice must act with at least the same mental state required for the commission of the crime. For example, if the crime is common law murder, the state must prove that the accomplice acted with malice. Second, the accomplice must act for the purpose of helping or encouraging the principal to commit the crime. [citation needed]
While aiding means providing support or assistance to someone, abetting means encouraging someone else to commit a crime. Accessory is someone who in fact assists "commission of a crime committed primarily by someone else". [1] However, some jurisdictions have merged being an accessory before the fact with aiding and abetting. [2]
An omission can be criminal if there is a statute that requires one to act. A duty of care is imposed and one is required to act when one is: under a contract (R v Pittwood [5]), has assumed care (R v Stone and Dobinson [6]), has created a dangerous situation (R v Miller [7]), or fails to perform one's official position (R v Dytham. [8]).
Most jurisdictions in the United States of America maintain the felony murder rule. [1] In essence, the felony murder rule states that when an offender kills (regardless of intent to kill) in the commission of a dangerous or enumerated crime (called a felony in some jurisdictions), the offender, and also the offender's accomplices or co-conspirators, may be found guilty of murder.
An example is the felony murder rule: if the prosecution proves beyond reasonable doubt that one commits a qualifying felony (see the article) during which death results, one is held strictly liable for murder and the prosecution does not have to prove any of the normal culpability requirements for murder.
If an accomplice only advised or encouraged the principal to commit the crime, he must at least communicate his withdrawal to the other parties. Where an accomplice has supplied the principal with the means of committing the crime, the accomplice must arguably neutralise, or at least take all reasonable steps to neutralise, the aid he has given.
At a certain point a person that is complicit in a crime may become a conspirator depending on the degree of involvement by the individual and whether a crime was completed or not." This suggests that conspiracy is the only criminal form of complicity, which is not consistent with the rest of the article or the referenced articles, which treat ...