Also known as: attempts · attempted · attempting · attentate · criminal attempt
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
2 senses
An inchoate offense that occurs when a person acts with specific intent to commit a target crime and takes a substantial step beyond mere preparation toward its commission. Factual impossibility is not a defense. Once the defendant crosses the line from preparation to an overt act, abandonment is not a defense at common law.
An effort or endeavor by a party to achieve a specified legal result or perform a specified act, such as compromising a claim, accepting an offer, or violating a rule.
Each sense below has its own examples, sources, and questions.
An inchoate offense that occurs when a person acts with specific intent to commit a target crime and takes a substantial step beyond mere preparation toward its commission. Factual impossibility is not a defense. Once the defendant crosses the line from preparation to an overt act, abandonment is not a defense at common law.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Alexis Archer and an accomplice agree to break into a warehouse at night. They reach the building, pry open a window, and enter. Police arrest them inside before they take any property. Because the burglary was completed, the common-law merger doctrine treats the completed felony as the sole charge and folds the preliminary attempt into it.
No. A defendant may not invoke factual impossibility as a defense once the required intent and overt act are shown. The law treats the defendant's conduct as criminal even if an unknown physical condition would have prevented completion of the target offense.
Supporting sources
Once the defendant, acting with specific intent, has taken an overt act that crosses the line from mere preparation into an attempt, voluntary withdrawal provides no defense at common law.
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An effort or endeavor by a party to achieve a specified legal result or perform a specified act, such as compromising a claim, accepting an offer, or violating a rule.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Amelia Amari files a complaint alleging that a supplier delivered defective parts in March. After the limitations period expires, she seeks to add a claim for the same March delivery but under a different legal theory. The amendment relates back because it arises out of the same conduct, transaction, or occurrence set out in the original pleading.
Ava Adebayo offers the opposing party $50,000 to settle a contract dispute. At trial the opponent seeks to introduce the offer to prove the claim's validity. The court excludes the evidence because it constitutes an offer to accept valuable consideration in attempting to compromise the claim.
Abigail Alvarez directs a nonlawyer assistant to contact a represented opposing party without consent. Even though the assistant performs the contact, Alvarez is subject to discipline for attempting to violate the professional conduct rules through the acts of another.
Yes. Under Rule 15(c)(1)(B), an amendment relates back if the new claim or defense arises out of the conduct, transaction, or occurrence set out or attempted to be set out in the original pleading.
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No. Rule 408(a)(1) excludes evidence of furnishing, promising, or offering valuable consideration in attempting to compromise the claim when offered to prove or disprove validity or amount.
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…The mandate of the Judiciary Act giving the Supreme Court original jurisdiction to issue writs of mandamus to public officers attempts to confer jurisdiction that the Constitution does not permit the Supreme Court to exercise as original jurisdiction. Because the provision in the Judiciary Act purporting to extend…
…against these standards, Art. 1196 of the Texas Penal Code, in restricting legal abortions to those "procured or attempted by medical advice for the purpose of saving the life of the mother," sweeps too broadly. The statute makes no distinction between abortions performed early in pregnancy and those performed…
…reason for holding the Due Process Clause inapplicable to a juvenile proceeding. 387 U. S., at 50-51. The Court of Appeals also attempted to justify the preponderance standard on the related ground that juvenile proceedings are designed "not to punish, but to save the child." 24 N. Y. 2d, at 197, 247 N. E. 2d, at 254. Again,…
…the first prong of Rule 702.[^maj-10] Where such evidence is unavailable, the proponent of expert scientific testimony may attempt
…S. 313, 317 (1921). The mere invocation of federal power by a federal law enforcement official will normally render futile any
Under the traditional common-law proximity test, the defendant's conduct must come dangerously close to completing the target offense. Conduct that remains only preparatory, such as purchasing supplies or traveling to the scene, does not suffice.
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If the principal offense is completed, the inchoate attempt merges into the completed felony and is no longer separately punishable as a misdemeanor.
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Antonio Alvarado mails an offer on Monday. The offeree receives it on Wednesday and mails an acceptance on Friday. Whether the acceptance is timely depends on all circumstances existing when the offer and attempted acceptance were made, a question of fact for the court.
Aisha Ahmed swings a baseball bat at an unaware pedestrian from behind but stops the swing before contact or detection. Because the pedestrian never becomes aware of the attempt before it terminates, no assault liability arises under the Restatement rule.