ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the three inchoate or preliminary offences recognised by the criminal law, incitement, conspiracy and attempt. All three were originally common law offences but conspiracy, in part, and attempt have been put on to a statutory footing. Incitement and the rest of the law on conspiracy are still subject to the common law. The conduct covered by these offences is necessarily preliminary to the completed crime and liability is not dependant upon whether or not the crime in question is actually committed. In broad terms, incitement relates to the activity whereby someone seeks to encourage another to commit an offence. Conspiracy has at its heart the striking of an agreement between two or more parties to commit a crime and an attempt is established, if with the requisite mens rea the party or parties have done something more than merely preparatory to the completed offence. In many cases, of course, the parties will go on to complete the offence and in practice any charges will relate to it, but it does not preclude the prosecution from deciding to proceed with the inchoate offence particularly if there is only circumstantial evidence to connect the accused with the completed offence.
