Legal Definitions - inchoate offense

An inchoate offense refers to a crime that is committed by taking a significant, punishable step towards the commission of another, more serious crime, even if the final "target" crime is never fully completed. These offenses are considered crimes in themselves because the law seeks to prevent harmful acts by punishing individuals who demonstrate a clear intent and take concrete actions towards committing a crime.

The most common types of inchoate offenses are attempt (trying to commit a crime but failing), solicitation (asking or encouraging someone else to commit a crime), and conspiracy (agreeing with others to commit a crime). The crime that was intended or planned is known as the target offense. Generally, if someone is successfully prosecuted for the target offense, they cannot also be charged with the inchoate offense of attempt or solicitation for the same act. However, conspiracy is an exception; a person can be charged with both conspiracy to commit a crime and the completed target crime itself.

Here are some examples to illustrate how inchoate offenses work:

• Attempt: Imagine a person who tries to steal a car by hot-wiring it, but the engine fails to start, and they flee before police arrive. Even though the car was not successfully stolen, the act of attempting to hot-wire it with the intent to steal constitutes an inchoate offense of attempted grand theft auto. The significant step taken towards the target offense (grand theft auto) makes it a punishable crime.
• Solicitation: A business owner, frustrated by a competitor, offers a former employee $5,000 to vandalize the competitor's storefront. Even if the former employee refuses the offer or accepts but never carries out the vandalism, the business owner has committed the inchoate offense of solicitation. The act of encouraging or requesting another person to commit a crime (vandalism, the target offense) is itself a crime.
• Conspiracy: Two individuals meet and agree to create and distribute counterfeit concert tickets, outlining their plan to print the tickets and sell them online. Even if they are apprehended before any tickets are printed or sold, their agreement to commit the crime, combined with an overt act (like discussing the printing process or setting up a fake online selling account), constitutes the inchoate offense of conspiracy to commit counterfeiting. The agreement and steps taken towards the target offense (counterfeiting) are sufficient for a charge.