Attempt
An attempt to commit a crime is conduct intended to lead to the commission of the crime.
It is more than mere preparation, but it falls short of actual commission of the intended offense.
An intent to commit a crime is not the same as an attempt to commit a crime.
Intent is a mental quality that implies a purpose, whereas attempt implies an effort .
,
Defenses
Defenses Negating Criminal CapacityTo be held responsible for a crime, a person must understand the nature and consequences of his or her unlawful conduct.
Under certain circumstances, a person who commits a crime lacks the legal capacity to be held responsible for the act.Examples of legal incapacity are infancy, incompetence, and intoxication.
Ch.
,
Intent
Criminal intent must be formed before the act, and it must unite with the act.
It need not exist for any given length of time before the act; the intent and the act can be as instantaneous as simultaneous or successive thoughts.
A jury may be permitted to infer criminal intent from facts that would lead a reasonable person to believe that it existe.
,
Malice
Malice is a state of mind that compels a person to deliberately cause unjustifiable injury to another person.
At Common Law, murder was the unlawful killing of one human being by another with malice aforethought, or a predetermination to kill without legal justification or excuse.
Most jurisdictions have omitted malice from statutes, in favor of le.
,
Merger
Under common law, when a person committed a major crime that included a lesser offense, the latter merged with the former.
This meant that the accused could not be charged with both crimes.
The modern law of merger applies only to solicitation and attempt.
One who solicits another to commit a crime may not be convicted of both the solicitation and .
,
Motives
Motives are the causes or reasons that induce a person to form the intent to commit a crime.
They are not the same as intent.
Rather, they explains why the person acted to violate the law.
For example, knowledge that one will receive insurance funds upon the death of another may be a motive for murder, and sudden financial difficulty may be motive .
,
Should More Crimes Be Made Federal Offenses?
Enforcement of criminal laws in the United States has traditionally been a matter handled by the states.
The federal government, conversely, has typically limited itself to policing only crimes against the federal government and interstate crime.
This is just one expression of the U.S. system of Federalism, the notion that the federal government ex.
