{"id":2367,"date":"2014-09-30T01:29:22","date_gmt":"2014-09-30T01:29:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ourlandstoo.org\/?page_id=2367"},"modified":"2018-03-10T05:03:16","modified_gmt":"2018-03-10T05:03:16","slug":"title-18-aiding-abetting","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/reunitethestates.org\/?page_id=2367","title":{"rendered":"18 U.S.C. \u00a7 2 “Aiding & Abetting” – knowingly and willingly assisting a crime"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This page is continued from Criminal Law Self-Help<\/a> >>>> Types of Crimes and Corresponding Laws<\/a> >>>> Types of Crimes Necessarily Committed by Two or More Persons Working Together<\/a>:<\/span>
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\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Similarly to<\/span> Title 42 Action for Neglect to Prevent<\/a>, <\/span>“<\/span>Aiding & Abetting” can be charged when someone is actually\u00a0assisting <\/em>a crime.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span> Action for Neglect to Prevent<\/a> differs because it stipulates that “they could have prevented it without putting themselves in harm’s way- but chose to do nothing instead.<\/span>”\u00a0 Aiding and Abetting means they performed a conscious effort to assist:<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/h5>\n

Transcript of Code:<\/span><\/h3>\n

18 U.S.C. \u00a02. Principals<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

(a) Whoever commits an offense against the United States or aids, abets, counsels, commands, induces or procures its commission, is punishable as a principal.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

(b) Whoever willfully causes an act to be done which if directly performed by him or another would be an offense against the United States, is punishable as a principal.<\/span> [1]<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Related Terms:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

accomplice liability<\/span><\/a> – criminal responsibility of one who acts with another before, during, or (in some jurisdictions) after a crime.\u00a0 18 USCA \u00a7 2.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

principal <\/span>–\u00a0 Someone who commits or participates in a crime. <\/strong>\u2014 aka criminal principal<\/span><\/strong><\/em>.\u00a0 Cf. ACCESSORY (2); <\/span>ACCOMPLICE (2). [2]\u00a0 1. One actually or constructively present, and abetting the commission of the offense, that is, doing some act at the time of the commission of the crime that is in furtherance of the offense. 21 Am J2d Crim L \u00a7 120<\/span>.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Under Federal statutes, he who, in the commission of an illegal act with others, such as maintaining an illicit still, conducting a burglary or a holdup, arms and instructs his confederates to kill if obstructed in the attempt,w ith the purpose and intent that they do so, is in law a principal in any wilful killing which results from carrying out those instructions.<\/strong> Young v United States<\/em> (CA5 Tex) 97 F2d 200<\/strong><\/span>.\u00a0 See, also principal D<\/em>, 1010. [3]
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\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Excerpt from J.W. Cecil Turner, Kenny\u2019s Outlines of Criminal Law<\/em><\/a> 89 (16th ed. 1952):<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cThe student should notice that in criminal law the word \u2018principal\u2019 suggests the very converse of the idea which it represents in mercantile law.\u00a0 In the former, as we have seen, an accessory proposes an act, and the \u2018principal\u2019 carries it out.\u00a0 But in the law of contract, and in that of tort, the \u2018principal\u2019 only authorizes an act, and the \u2018agent\u2019 carries it out.\u00a0 Where the same transaction is both a tort and a crime, this double use of the word may cause confusion.\u00a0 For example, if, by an innkeeper\u2019s directions, his chamber-maid steals jewels out of a guest\u2019s portmanteau, the maid is the \u2019principal\u2019 in a crime, wherein her master is an accessory before the fact; whilst she is also the agent in a tort, wherein her master is the \u2018principal.\u201d<\/span>\u2019<\/span><\/strong> [4]<\/span><\/p>\n

principal in the first degree<\/span> –<\/strong> (18c) The perpetrator of a crime.<\/strong> \u2014 aka first-degree principal<\/span><\/strong><\/em>. [2]\u00a0\u00a0 1. One who commits a criminal act either in person or through an innocent agent. State v Wilson<\/em>, 233 Iowa 538, 17 NW2d 138<\/span>; State v Minton<\/em>, 234 NC 716, 68 SE2d 844, 31 ALR2d 682<\/span>; Red v State<\/em>, 39 Tex Crim 667, 47 SW 1003<\/span>.<\/strong> [3]1. A person who commits a crime, either in person or through an innocent agent.<\/strong> [5]
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\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Excerpt from J.W. Cecil Turner, Kenny\u2019s Outlines of Criminal Law<\/em><\/a> 85-86 (16th ed. 1952):<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 “By a principal in the first degree, we mean the actual offender \u2014 the man in whose guilty mind lay the latest <\/span><\/span>blamable mental cause of the criminal act.\u00a0 Almost always, of course, he will be the man by whom this act itself was done. But occasionally this will not be so; for the felony may have been committed by the hand of an innocent agent who, having no blamable intentions in what he did, incurred no criminal liability by doing it. In such a case the man who instigates this agent is the real offender; his was the last mens rea that preceded the crime, though it did not cause it imme<\/span>diately but mediately.<\/span>\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/strong> [6]<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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principal in the second degree<\/span> –<\/strong> (18c) 1. Someone who helped the perpetrator at the time of the crime.<\/strong> \u2014 aka accessory at the fact<\/span><\/strong><\/em>; second-degree principal<\/span><\/strong><\/em>.\u00a0 See ABETTOR. [2]\u00a0 1. One present at the commission of a criminal act, lending countenance, aid, encouragement, or other mental assistance, while another commits the act. Red v State<\/em>, 39 Tex Crim 667, 47 SW 1003<\/span>.\u00a0 One present at the time a crime is committed, lending countenance, aid, or encouragement, or one keeping watch at some convenient distance while another person performs the actual criminal act. Brown v Commonwealth<\/em>, 130 Va 733, 107 SE 809<\/span>.<\/strong> [3]1. A person who is present at the commission of a crime, giving aid and encouragement to the chief perpetrator.<\/strong>
\nSee aiding and abetting<\/em>.\u00a0 Compare accessory before the fact<\/em>. [5]
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\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Excerpt from Rollin M. Perkins & Ronald N. Boyce, Criminal Law<\/em><\/a> 736 (3d ed. 1982) (quoting Beausoliel v. U.S., 107 F.2d 292, 297 (DC Cir. 1939)):<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cThe distinction between principals in the first and second degrees is a distinction without a difference except in those rare instances in which some unusual statute has provided a different penalty for one of these than for the other.\u00a0 A principal in the first degree is the immediate perpetrator of the crime while a principal in the second degree is one who did not commit the crime with his own hands but was present and abetting the principal. It may be added, in the words of Mr. Justice Miller, that one may perpetrate a crime, not only with his own hands, but \u2018through the agency of mechanical or chemical means, as by instruments, poison or powder, or by an animal, child, or other innocent agent\u2019 acting under his direction.<\/span>\u201d <\/strong>[7]
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References:<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Disclaimer:<\/span><\/span><\/strong> All material throughout this website is compiled in accordance with Fair Use<\/a>.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

[1]: U.S. Federal District Court in Massachussets on “Aiding & Abetting”:\u00a0www.mad.uscourts.gov\/resources\/pattern2003\/html\/patt1jsi.htm<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

[2]: Black’s Law Dictionary <\/a><\/span><\/strong>Deluxe<\/b><\/span><\/em> Tenth<\/b><\/span><\/em> Edition<\/b><\/span><\/em><\/a> by Henry Campbell Black, Editor in Chief Bryan A. Garner. ISBN: 978-0-314-61300-4 <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

[3]: Ballantine\u2019s Law <\/a><\/span><\/strong>Dictionary\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/strong><\/a>with<\/b><\/span><\/em> Pronunciations<\/b><\/span><\/em> Third Edition<\/span><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0by James A. Ballantine\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>(James Arthur 1871-1949).\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/em>Edited by William S. Anderson.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a9 1969 by THE LAWYER\u2019S CO-OPERATIVE PUBLISHING COMPANY.\u00a0 Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 68-30931<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

[4]: J.W. Cecil Turner, Kenny\u2019s Outlines of Criminal Law<\/em><\/a> 89 (16th ed. 1952).<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

[5]:\u00a0\u00a0Ballantine\u2019s Law Dictionary <\/a><\/strong>Legal<\/b><\/em> Assistant<\/b><\/em> Edition<\/b><\/em><\/a>
\nby Jack Ballantine\u00a0<\/strong>(James Arthur 1871-1949).\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>Doctored<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0<\/em>by\u00a0Jack G. Handler,\u00a0J.D.<\/a>\u00a0\u00a9 1994 Delmar by Thomson Learning.\u00a0 ISBN 0-8273-4874-6.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

[6]: J.W. Cecil Turner, Kenny\u2019s Outlines of Criminal Law<\/em><\/a> 85-86 (16th ed. 1952).<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

[7]: Rollin M. Perkins & Ronald N. Boyce, Criminal Law<\/em><\/a> 736 (3d ed. 1982) (quoting Beausoliel v. U.S., 107 F.2d 292, 297 (DC Cir. 1939)).<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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