Criminal Law Capsule Summary

§ 21.01 General Principles

[A] Actus reus – The actus reus of a solicitation takes place when one person invites, requests, commands, hires, or encourages another to commit a particular offense. For a solicitation to occur, neither the solicitor nor the solicited party needs to perform any act in furtherance of the substantive crime. The solicitation is complete upon communication of the solicitation to another.

[B] Mens rea – Common law solicitation is a specific-intent crime. A person is not guilty of solicitation unless he intentionally commits the actus reus of the inchoate offense, i.e., he intentionally invites, requests, commands, hires, or encourages another to commit a crime, with the specific intent that the other person consummate the target crime.

[C] Relationship of the Solicitor to the Solicited Party – At common law, no solicitation occurs if the solicitor intends to commit the substantive offense himself, but requests assistance by another.

§ 21.02 Model Penal Code

[A] Generally – The Model Penal Code provides that a person is guilty of solicitation to commit a crime if:

	1.)	his purpose is to promote or facilitate the commission of a substantive offense; and
	2.)	with such purpose, he commands, encourages or requests another person to engage in conduct that would constitute the crime, an attempt to commit it, or would establish the other person’s complicity in its commission or attempted commission. [MPC § 5.02(1)]

Prior to the enactment of the Code, most state penal statutes did not provide for solicitation generally and instead proscribed solicitation of specific offenses. As a result of the Code’s influence, many states today have solicitation statutes that apply to all crimes, or alternatively all felonies.

Unlike at common law, under the Code, the relationship of the solicitor to the solicited party need not be that of accomplice to perpetrator.

[B] Renunciation – The Model Code establishes a defense to solicitation of "renunciation of criminal purpose." A person is not guilty of solicitation if he:

	1.)	completely and voluntarily renounces his criminal intent; and
	2.)	either persuades the solicited party not to commit the offense or otherwise prevents him from committing the crime.[MPC § 5.02(3)]