THE LAW Reform Commission's consultation paper on inchoate offences was launched by Mr Justice Garret Sheehan last night.
Crimes like attempted murder, conspiracy to commit a crime and incitement will be redefined if proposals from the Law Reform Commission (LRC) are turned into law.
These come in its consultation paper, which is the first stage in discussing the reform of an aspect of the law. Following public consultation, a final report is published.
Inchoate offences are those that criminalise conduct that is working towards the commission of an offence.
They include, for example, attempted murder, where the perpetrator tries, but fails, to kill his victim; and conspiracy to murder or incitement to murder, where a person enters into an agreement to kill another person, or seeks to persuade another person to kill him or her.
Prosecutions for such offences are relatively rare, but they do occur.
For example, in 2000 Catherine Nevin was convicted of soliciting three men for the murder of her husband, publican Tom Nevin, as well as of his murder. He was killed during a robbery at Jack White's Inn, the pub the couple owned.
During the trial three men gave evidence of being approached by Ms Nevin and asked to kill her husband. They were not accused of any involvement in his death, and the actual killer or killers have never been identified.
The LRC consultation paper examines such offences and identifies uncertainty in the law as it stands. It recommends that the law be codified as part of the work being overseen by the Criminal Law Codification Advisory Committee.
It specifically recommends that only agreements to commit a criminal offence should be criminal conspiracies, in contrast with the current law, where it is an offence to agree to commit a civil wrong, like non-payment of rent. It also recommends the abolition of the vague offence of conspiracy to corrupt public morals. It is seeking submissions on whether the offence of conspiracy to defraud should continue to be an offence.
In relation to the law on attempting to commit an offence, the commission recommends that the clear intention to commit it be established in establishing the mental aspect of the crime; and that the physical aspect of it should be defined as being close to the completion of the act.
Incitement should be codified to mean encouraging, commanding or requesting another person to carry out a crime.
The commission recommends that impossibility of the successful completion of a crime (like the intended victim being already dead, unknown to the perpetrator) should not be a defence.
It is seeking submissions on the paper by May 30th, 2008.
This consultation paper is part of the LRC's third programme of law reform 2008-2014. Some of this programme involves the production of draft Bills reforming the law in certain areas, while other parts of it will feed into the codification of the criminal law.
An advisory committee to do this was set up by the previous minister for justice, Michael McDowell, and is chaired by Prof Finbar McAuley, who is also a member of the Law Reform Commission.