Criminal law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 1

Criminal law - Essay Example When there are different parties to a crime, principle offenders are deemed to have contributed to committing the offence. In this case Andrew decides to kill his wife Sue in order to be with Beth. He acts by hiring a hit man, John to do the work for him on some payment. In doing this, he acts as the counsellor. This is by encouraging, and inciting John to commit the crime and offering him money as payment for it. This makes him a party to the crime as a counsellor. A person who counsels or procures another person to commit a crime is a principle offender if the offence is actually committed. He is therefore liable for the same penalties as John as if he had committed the offence himself. It is immaterial whether the offence actually committed was the same as that counselled. Provided that the facts surrounding the offence committed are a probable or direct consequence of that counsel. For example in the case of Twelve v R , where a son procured a witchdoctor to kill is mother whom he believed was a witch and was responsible for killing his children. He believed that the witchdoctor would superficially k ill his mother however; the witchdoctor killed her by shooting her on the back in her hut at night. The son was held to have been likely convicted of murder for having procured the witchdoctor to kill his mother. The means used was immaterial, guiding another person to commit a crime, makes one a party to the offence. For example in the case of DPP of Northern Ireland v Maxwell , A drove his car to a pub knowing that he was guiding another vehicle containing members of a terrorist movement. A realised that some kind of attack was to be made but did not know the form it would take. Members of the terrorist group threw a piped bomb into a pub but fortunately, it did not explode. A was held guilty for being an accessory to a crime and of doing an act with intent of causing the explosion and being in possession of explosives. The court found that those were offences within the range of possibilities, which he contemplated, would be committed. Andrew is therefore criminally liable for at tempted murder of Tim and his penalty is the same as that of John. Even if the person killed was not the person he intended, he still is a party to the transferred murder of Tim. Similarly, since Andrew had procured John to kill Sue, who ended up attacking Tim instead, it still stands that Andrew advised him to commit a crime of that nature. It does not matter that it is Sue he wanted killed. As long as John acted on the procurement, Andrew also provided John with the gun to be used to commit the crime. Helping giving assistance to the perpetrator or offering the weapon in the doing of a crime, whether before or during the commission of the offence makes one an aider or abettor to the offence. Andrew had the intention to kill Sue and thus it does not matter that John killed the wrong person. There was still the intention to commit a crime. Andrew is then a principle offender by virtue of this and thus he is jointly liable for attempted murder of Tim since there is a common intention by the offenders to commit the murder. This is illustrated in R v Bainbridge3 where the appellant supplied thieves with cutting equipment for breaking into a bank. It was held that the equipment was to be used for some kind of breaking even if he did not know what particular bank. Likewise, since Andrew knew the purpose the gun was going to

African Americans Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

African Americans - Term Paper Example Harriet Tubman was a strong African-American woman born in servitude. Both of her parents toiled as slaves in Maryland. During her development, she endured a harsh life as she was subjected to whipping from a tender age. When she entered into adulthood, she realized that she could be sold as a slave as it was a norm at that time (Siebert, & Hart, 2006). Therefore, in 1849 she decided to escape to Philadelphia with the assistance of an abolitionist. During that period, there were few white people who were against slavery and they helped to free slaves. Harriet was handed a note by her abolitionist neighbor that contained two names that would direct her to a safe place. Harriet was joined by other blacks and went to Subversive Railroad, which were houses. After her escape, she met with other abolitionists whom they planned on how to free other slaves who were left behind. Due to her resilient in fighting slavery, Harriet became the leading abolitionist before the civil war (Lillian, n.d.). The particular event by Harriet was significant in America as it showed her resilience to free other slaves. Her character also gave hope to slaves as they felt that they had a person to fight for them and also keep them safe. In 1877, America witnessed the first person of color ever to graduate in the military academy in the country’s history. Henry Ossian, who was born in slavery, made history by being the first person of color to graduate from West point. During his years in the academy, he never had any contact with a white cadet. The Academy was the preliminary military school to be established in the US. The primary reason the military school was built was to educate and train young men theory and practice of military science. Before Henry was admitted to the military school, there was another black American named James Webster. Although, James was admitted to the military school he never graduated. However, Henry endured all