criminal-law
Soliciting a Criminal Action
<p>If I approach a person and offer to pay them to assault a third party and the assault took place, I assume that I would be guilty of some crime myself.</p>

<p>If, however, I approach a person and offer to pay their legal fees if they assault a third party, but not pay for the assault itself, would I also be guilty of a crime ??</p>

<p>In both cases these are <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inchoate_offense" rel="nofollow">Inchoate offenses</a> there are a whole bunch of common law offences you could be charged with depending on the specific facts, including:</p>

<ul>
<li>being an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accessory_(legal_term)" rel="nofollow">Accessory or Criminal Facilitator</a> to Assault</li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attempt" rel="nofollow">Attempted</a> Assault</li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compounding_a_felony" rel="nofollow">Compounding</a> Assault</li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conspiracy_(criminal)" rel="nofollow">Conspiracy</a> to commit Assault.</li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solicitation" rel="nofollow">Solicitation</a> of Assault</li>
</ul>

<p>Many of these common law offences have been abolished in many jurisdictions but where this is so, they have been replaced with similar statutory offences.</p>

<p>It doesn't matter if you agree to pay for the assault or to indemnify the person for their legal costs: you are offering something of value in return for a criminal act.</p>
