Radhika Swami, Symbiosis Law School, Noida, Symbiosis International (Deemed University), Pune
ABSTRACT
Inchoate offenses refer to those crimes that are not fully carried out yet punishable by law, including abetment, attempt, and conspiracy. These crimes reflect the initial stages of criminal conduct whereby there is clear intention-mens rea-to commit a crime but the physical act, actus reus, is not fully carried out. Attempted criminal liability may arise when an offender has gone beyond mere preparation and has undertaken an act or acts specifically aimed at committing a crime, not amounting to the consummation of the crime. Legal tests in attempts at criminal liability include what is called the Proximity Test, which bases its test on how proximate the offender was to completing the crime, while the Social Danger Test bases its test on the danger posed to society. Abetment, which extends liability to instigation, conspiracy, or helping in the perpetration of a crime, puts the accent on collective guilt and on the discouragement of crime well before its consummation. Needless to say, an intention, as such, is not punishable. Yet, the law intervenes when the preparatory acts reach the stage of an attempt or participation in a crime.
Keywords: inchoate crimes, mens rea, actus reus, abetment, attempt, conspiracy, criminal liability.
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