Conspiracy

1
Conspiracy

• By Ashley Geeves

2
What is conspiracy?

• An agreement between two or more people to do an
  unlawful act.
• Most conspiracies are charged as statutory
  conspiracy under the Criminal Law Act 1977.
• Before that conspiracy was a common law offence.

3
The three main forms of conspiracy

• Conspiracy to commit a crime.
• Conspiracy to defraud. (common law)
• Conspiracy to corrupt public morals and outrage
  public decency. (common law)

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The actus reus of conspiracy

• The agreement between two people (or more) on a
  course of conduct, which will lead to a criminal
  offence.
• There must be a form of agreement about the
  course of conduct.

• If there are a lot of people involved, the
  offender only has to have agreed with one of
  them.
• E.g. Chrastney 1991

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The mens rea of conspiracy

• The defendant must intend to agree with the plan.
• The defendant must intend for the plan to be
  carried out, or be aware that it may involve
  committing an offence.

• In Anderson 1986, the House of Lords stated
  obiter, that the defendant can be found guilty
  even if they did not intend for the plan to
  actually take place.

6
Conspiracy to commit a crime

• The offence is found in the Criminal Law Act 1977
  (amended by the) Criminal Attempts Act 1981 and
  the Criminal Justice Act 1987.

• s1, states that the offence of conspiracy to
  commit a crime will take place when a person
  agrees with another person or persons to pursue a
  course of conduct which, if carried out, will
  amount to or involve the commission of an
  offence, or would do so if something had not
  happened making the offence impossible to commit.

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Conspiracy in common law

• S5 Criminal Law Act 1977 states that the offence
  of common law conspiracy is abolished, the
  exceptions are
• Conspiracy to defraud (s5(2))
• Conspiracy to corrupt public morals or outrage
  public decency (s5(3))

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Conspiracy to defraud

• An agreement to practise a fraud on someone.
• It acts as a safety net to make sure that certain
  offenders do not escape punishment.
• It covers conduct that may not be a substantive
  criminal offence (Scott v MPC 1975).

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Conspiracy to corrupt public morals or outrage
public decency

• Conspiracy to corrupt public morals covers
  conduct that does not involve the commission of
  an offence if it was carried out by one person on
  their own.
• E.g. Knuller v DPP 1973

• Conspiracy to outrage public decency covers
  conduct that does not involve the commission of
  an offence if it was carried out by one person on
  their own.
• E.g. Gibson 1990

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Conspiracy to do the impossible

• S1 Criminal Law Act 1977 states that a statutory
  conspiracy can take place even though the full
  offence is impossible.
• E.g Shivpuri 1987 (relating to all attempts)
  means that similar rules may be applied to common
  law conspiracies.

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Exemption from liability for conspiracy

• The intended victim cannot be found guilty (s2(1)
  Criminal Law Act 1977)
• If the people you conspired with are (s2(2)
  Criminal Law Act 1977)
• His/her spouse
• A child under the age of 10