Criminal Liability and the Use of Force - Research Paper Example

The Model Penal Code allows for solicitation offense to be punishable to the same extent as is allowed for the crime itself. If the person solicited actually commits the crime, the accused becomes an accessory and can subsequently be convicted for both solicitation offense and his role in the crime itself as an accessory. However, a person cannot be convicted of both solicitation to commit a crime and the completed crime separately as the solicitation offense and the accomplished crime merge.

The solicitation becomes a lesser included offense of the main completed crime, all in attempts to avoid violation of the Fifth Amendment “double jeopardy” clause which prohibits trying a defendant twice for same crime (Jefferson, 2007). Punishments for solicitation vary from state to state (and even from one country to the other) and also on the type of crime solicited for (where other crimes are punished with higher degree than others). In addition, solicitation crimes do not require proof that the person who committed them was in the right state of mind while on the other hand the soliciting person has to be proved to have been in the right state of mind when soliciting the other individual to carry out the crime.

There are several types of solicitation crimes which can range from solicitation for murder, bribery, prostitution, robbery, amongst others. For instance, if James approaches John and asks John if he would help him kill a local business rival. John ignores the request and continues with his normal activities. Even though John has not so much acknowledged James, James can be convicted of solicitation because the crime of solicitation occurred simply by the request that John help him see out the murder.

Another instance, that actually occurred a few years ago, where the FBI obtained a search warrant authorizing it to review two days’ worth of Fox News reporter James Rosen’s emails after sufficiently showing to a judge that they had strong reasons to believe that the reporter Rosen had indeed committed the crime of soliciting the disclosure of classified information from a government official. The government official went on to be indicted for leaking classified government data. Corroboration entails supporting or proving a statement, theory, suspicion, claim or belief by proving information or evidence to that effect and according to Elliott and Frances (2000), the requirements of corroboration apply directly to solicitation statutes.

There must be at least one source of evidence, that is, the testimony of one witness against the defendant. This evidence may be direct or circumstantial. Each essential or crucial fact requiring proof must be corroborated by other direct or circumstantial evidence, that is, the testimony of at least on other witness. Also, corroboration must be from an independent source and the corroboration must implicate the defendant in a material particular which simply denotes a material fact, that is, a fact which in the circumstances of the solicitation case and the matters raised in it is material to the guilt or innocence of the accused of the offense.

Conspiracy occurs where there is an agreement to commit a crime with several federal laws requiring that one co-conspirator commit an overt act without which it is not