united-kingdom
Could I be held liable for simply sharing the idea for a crime?
<p>If I were to share an observation that I made using publicly available information/knowledge, and then somebody acted upon this to commit a crime, could I be held liable in any way?</p>

<p>For example, let's say that I observe from a public vantage point some security guards at a building that fall asleep. I then post online in a public place the following: "I saw the security guards at Building 123 had fallen asleep, that place would be easy to rob!"</p>

<p>If somebody who I did not know had intent to commit robbery then went and robbed the building, could I be held liable for providing the information about the sleeping security guards and 'planting the seed' for the crime?</p>

<p>An alternate example would be for fraud. Let's say I publicised a potential fraud/scam method that I had thought of - with the intention of raising awareness and sharing the idea, could I be held liable if somebody actually committed fraud or scammed somebody using my idea?</p>

<p>I am interested in the UK law on this.</p>

<p>By my understanding  you should not be held criminallly liable.</p>

<p>In order to be held guilty of a crime the prosecution needs to show the elements of the crime are met.  One of these elements is "mens rea" - ie guilty mind/intent.  According to your question you lacked intent to commit the crime, so the prosecution can't prove it, so their case must fail.</p>

<p>Note that in some places there are "crimes" which are strict liability - I'm ignoring these abominations here, as they are generally a grey area between criminal and civil law where freedom is not at stake and do not seem in the spirit of your question.</p>
