What is an inchoate crime?
Examples include solicitation, conspiracy, criminal attempt
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An inchoate crime is an offense that someone was in the process of committing but did not complete, such as solicitation, conspiracy or criminal attempt, according to the Cornell Law School’s Legal Information Institute.
The Cambridge Dictionary defines the word “inchoate” as being “only recently or partly formed, or not completely developed or clear.” That said, the Legal Information Institute describes this type of offense as being one in which a person takes “a punishable step towards the commission of another crime.”
Another form of an inchoate crime is aiding and abetting, which describes when someone has a hand in a crime or intent on assisting in some way, but, according to Justia.com, is “usually not present for the crime itself.”
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“Although these acts are not themselves crimes,” Justia.com states, “they are illegal because they are conducted in furtherance of a crime, and society wishes to deter individuals from taking such steps.”