Attempted crime : a comparative study

Abstract

The two elements that are generally required to constitute a crime are the 'mens rea' (criminal intention) and the 'actus reus' (criminal act). Hence, the criminal intention alone is not enough to make up a crime. ''As a general rule a crime is composed of actus reus and mens rea, and both of these are necessary to constitute a crime. This interdependence of act and mind means that neither alone can strictly be characterised as "criminal" or "reus" .... Act and mind are literally reus only in combination". However, although the 'actus reus' always has to complement the 'mens rea', a criminal offence may be brought about even where the whole of the particular criminal act that was intended did not in actual fact materialise. For example, if a man shoots at his victim missing the latter, because he did not aim properly, there is obviously no murder; but, in spite of this, criminal liability has been contracted. Therefore, the law, with respect to attempted offences, punishes also acts which only amount to a commencement of the consummation of the crime. On the other hand, for instance, merely buying a revolver would not constitute an attempt, although the mere illegal possession of firearms is a crime in itself A principal feature of an attempted crime is that it is committed even though the substantive offence is not successfully consummated. The criminal attempt consists of actions falling short of the completed crime, actions where the defendant must have tried to commit the offence and have got relatively close to achieving his objective. When, together with the specific intention to commit a particular crime, there is no completion of such crime, and it is proved that the agent had aimed at a more serious result than that which he himself has brought about, then there is a criminal attempt. So, the moral element of an attempted crime is constituted by the intention to accomplish a particular offence, to which intention the end result does not correspond. Thus, in a criminal attempt, the agent does not attain the criminal purpose which he had in mind, even though he may have put into operation all the acts necessary to complete the intended crime.