Legal Definitions - facilitation

Facilitation refers to the act of making an action or process easier to accomplish. In a legal context, particularly within criminal law, it describes the act of providing assistance or creating conditions that enable another person to commit a crime more readily.

Here are some examples illustrating the concept of facilitation:

• Imagine a scenario where an employee of a retail store is aware that an accomplice plans to steal high-value electronics after closing hours. The employee deliberately leaves a back service door unlocked, knowing it will allow the accomplice easy access to the store.

  This illustrates facilitation because the employee's action of leaving the door unlocked directly made it simpler and less risky for the accomplice to enter the premises and commit the theft. The employee eased the commission of the crime.

• Consider a situation where an individual lends their car to a friend, fully aware that the friend intends to use it as a getaway vehicle following a planned bank robbery.

  This demonstrates facilitation because providing the vehicle directly aids the friend in escaping the scene of the crime, making the overall act of robbery and subsequent evasion easier to execute. The lender's action directly contributed to the ease of the criminal act.

• Suppose a person, knowing their associate plans to commit vandalism by spray-painting a public monument, stands guard nearby and intentionally distracts a passing security officer by asking for directions to a non-existent location.

  This is an example of facilitation because the act of creating a diversion makes it easier for the second individual to commit the vandalism by drawing away attention and resources, thereby making the crime less likely to be interrupted.