Legal Definitions - incitement

Incitement refers to the act of encouraging, persuading, or urging another person to commit a crime. It involves intentionally prompting someone else to engage in illegal activity. In many legal systems, incitement itself can be a crime, even if the intended crime is never actually carried out. The focus is on the instigator's actions and intent to cause another to break the law.

• Example 1: During a heated argument, a person shouts at their friend, "Go on, slash their tires! They totally deserve it for what they did!" The friend then proceeds to damage the other person's car tires.

  Explanation: This illustrates incitement because the person directly and intentionally urged their friend to commit an act of vandalism (slashing tires), which is a crime. The friend then acted on this encouragement.

• Example 2: At a public protest, a speaker on stage passionately declares to the crowd, "We need to make them listen! Go into that building and don't leave until our demands are met, even if you have to break down the doors!" Following this, a segment of the crowd attempts to force entry into a private building, causing damage.

  Explanation: Here, the speaker's words are an act of incitement because they are urging a large group of people to commit illegal acts, such as trespassing and property damage, to achieve a goal. The intent is to provoke unlawful action.

• Example 3: An individual posts on a popular online forum, "Let's all flood the city council's email system with so many messages that it crashes completely, so they can't ignore us anymore!" This post is then followed by many users attempting to overwhelm the email server.

  Explanation: This demonstrates incitement in a digital context. The individual is encouraging others to participate in a cyberattack (a denial-of-service type action) against a public server, which is an illegal act. The intent is to cause others to commit this specific crime.