Solicitation

Solicitation is a crime; it is an inchoate offense that consists of a person inciting, counseling, advising, urging, or commanding another to commit a crime with the specific intent that the person solicited commit the crime. It is not necessary that the person actually commit the crime, nor is it necessary that the person solicited be willing or able to commit the crime (such as if the "solicitee" were an undercover police officer).

Related Topics:
Crime - Inchoate offense - Specific intent

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For example, if A commands B to assault C and A intends for B to assault C, then A is guilty of solicitation. However, if A commands B to assault C without intending that an actual crime be committed (perhaps believing that C has given consent), then there is no solicitation.

Related Topics:
Assault - Consent

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An interesting twist on solicitation occurs when a third party that the solicitor did not intend to recieve the incitement overhears the request to the original solicitee and unbenownst to the solicitor, commits the target offense. In a minority of jurisdictions in the United States, this situation would still be considered solicitation even though the defendant never intended the person that committed the crime to have done so.

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Solicitation is also subject to the doctrine of merger, which applies in situations where the person solicited actually commits the crime. In such a situation, both A and B could be charged with the crime as accomplices, which would preclude conviction under solicitation; a person cannot be punished for both solicitation and the crime solicited.

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Note that solicitation can apply to just about any criminal act. There are also many statutes for specific solicitation crimes. For example, solicitation of murder is often considered a capital offense, and has its own statute. Other examples might be solicitation of prostitution, or solicitation of a bribe.

Related Topics:
Murder - Capital offense - Statute - Prostitution - Bribe

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