even though criminal law interests everyone and it's something everybody
will deal with at least once a lot of people don't know very much about it
here are a few basic concepts that might help but beware though
this isn't legal advice just a general explanation
let's start with the two most basic elements of a crime: 1st "mens rea"
now mens rea is not, as it sounds, some sort of mainly death ray
"mens rea" is Latin for "guilty mind." to commit a crime you have to have a
particular state of mind when you act. obvious right? let's use an example
if you commit a criminal act like bank robbery but you're sleepwalking then you didn't act
with a guilty mind and so you didn't commit a crime you have to act with a
guilty mind at the exact time of the criminal act so if you decided to murder
someone but on your way there you're not paying attention
and you hit them with your car
that's not murder because even though you had a bad act and a guilty mind you
didn't have the guilty mind when you did the bad act
you were thinking about something else
"actus reus" is just a fancy word for a "criminal act." you can't commit a crime
without action but even if you want to commit a crime
you may not actually be successful
this is called an attempt. an attempt is a special crime
that requires two things be present
1st the guilty mind or the intent to commit a crime, 2nd an act
something significant enough that the attempter is showing they really want to
commit the crime but is not actually committing the entire crime
the world is full of criminals who didn't quite pull it off for all kinds of reasons
the difference in the criminal act is the important part
if you committed the whole act it wouldn't be attempted robbery it would just be robbery
for example grabbing a purse but not actually taking it would be a big
enough act to be an attempt but touching a purse in passing
while you think about possibly grabbing it
would not be enough even though you were thinking about it so it's important not
to jump the gun on stopping an attempt having the intent is still important you
can't commit an attempt because you're being reckless or not paying attention
even if you could commit the underlying crime that way
so while you can recklessly commit manslaughter
you can't recklessly attempt manslaughter
you can't recklessly attempt to commit any crime for that matter
it might be another crime but not attempt because you have to intend to
commit a crime for an attempt to take place
and there you have it