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Encouraging or assisting a crime in English law: Difference between revisions

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===Actus reus===
The offences of [[encouraging or assisting crime]] under the [[Serious Crime Act 2007]] are inchoate offences.<ref>Ormerod, David. Smith and Hogan's Criminal Law. Thirteenth Edition. Oxford University Press. 2011. p. 402.</ref> In each case, the ''actus reus'' requirement is that the defendant carry out an act capable of "encouraging or assisting" the commission of another offence. An offence is committed under section 44, if this is done with intent to do the same; under section 45 if it is done "believing that the offence will be committed and that the act will encourage or assist its commission"; or under section 46 where there are multiple possible offences being encouraged or assisted, and at least one is foreseen.<ref>Simester et al. (2010). p. 287.</ref> In contrast to statutory crimes still reliant on incitement, there is no need for the defendant to have communicated his thoughts to anyone else. For example, the act is when a letter is posted; it is not reliant on it being received by the person being incited. Since this is very wide, the courts will have to narrow it by some criterion, probably by reference to the remoteness of the encouragement to the crime. Failing to act when under a duty to do so would also qualify.<ref>Simester et al. (2010). p. 291.</ref>
 
"Encouraging" is not defined in the statute and can be considered in the same way as the previous crime of incitement. It does not matter if the encouragement or assistance has no effect.<ref>Simester et al. (2010). p. 288.</ref> In ''[[Invicta Plastics Ltd v Clare]]'',<ref>[1976] RTR 251 (DC)</ref> a company sold a device to detect [[Radar gun|radar traps]] used by the police; using such a device is illegal. The case also confirmed that there is no need for the incitement to be aimed at a specific person - addressing it to the world at large still constitutes incitement.<ref name=her793>Herring (2008). p. 793.</ref> It was advertised illustrating its use in an illegal fashion.<ref name="sim289">Simester et al. (2010) p. 289.</ref> However, in ''R v. James''<ref>(1985) 82 Crim LR 897 (CA)</ref> the selling of "black boxes" solely capable of illegally tapping mains electricity sources was not found to incite a crime.<ref name="sim289"/> In ''R v. Marlow''<ref>[1997] Crim LR 897 (CA)</ref> providing information on the growing of cannabis was found to constitute an offence.<ref name="sim289">Simester et al. (2010). p. 289.</ref> "Assisting" is likely to be considered similar to "aiding" in [[Accessory (legal term)|accessorial liability]]. Assistance can be provided indirectly, for example through a third person.<ref>Simester et al. (2010). p. 290.</ref>
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