{
  "id": "R43769",
  "type": "CRS Report",
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  "number": "R43769",
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      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 617259,
      "date": "2020-02-14",
      "retrieved": "2020-02-18T14:05:01.323081",
      "title": "Accomplices, Aiding and Abetting, and the Like: An Overview of 18 U.S.C. \u00a7 2",
      "summary": "Virtually every federal criminal statute has a hidden feature; primary offenders and even their most casual accomplices face equal punishment. This is the work of 18 U.S.C. \u00a7 2, which visits the same consequences on anyone who orders or intentionally assists in the commission of a federal crime.\nAiding and abetting means assisting in the commission of someone else\u2019s crime. Section 2(a) demands that the defendant embrace the crime of another and consciously do something to contribute to its success. An accomplice must know the offense is afoot if he is to intentionally contribute to its success. While a completed offense is a prerequisite to conviction for aiding and abetting, the hands-on offender need be neither named nor convicted.\nOn occasion, an accomplice will escape liability, either by judicial construction or administrative grace. This happens most often when there is a perceived culpability gap between accomplice and primary offender. Such accomplices are usually victims, customers, or subordinates of a primary offender. On other occasions, an accomplice will be charged as a co-conspirator because the facts that will support accomplice liability will ordinarily support conspirator liability and conspiracy is a separate offense.\nSection 2(b) (willfully causing a crime) applies to defendants who work through either witting or unwitting intermediaries, through the guilty or the innocent. Section 2(b) applies even if the intermediary is unaware of the nature of his conduct. Section 2(a) requires two guilty parties, a primary offender and an accomplice. Section 2(b) permits prosecution when there is only one guilty party, a \u201ccausing\u201d individual and an innocent agent. Both subsections, however, require a completed offense. \nFederal courts sometimes mention, but rarely apply, a withdrawal defense comparable to one available in conspiracy cases. Defendants are more likely to succeed by attacking the elements for liability, that is, arguing that they did not knowingly intend to commit the underlying offense or that no underlying offense ever occurred.\nThere is no general civil aiding and abetting statute. Aiding and abetting a violation of a federal criminal law does not trigger civil liability unless Congress has said so in so many words.",
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      "topics": [
        {
          "source": "IBCList",
          "id": 4850,
          "name": "Criminal Justice"
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    },
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 435201,
      "date": "2014-10-24",
      "retrieved": "2016-04-06T19:59:22.111965",
      "title": "Aiding, Abetting, and the Like: An Overview of 18 U.S.C. 2",
      "summary": "Virtually every federal criminal statute has a hidden feature; primary offenders and even their most casual accomplices face equal punishment. This results from 18 U.S.C. 2, which visits the same consequences on anyone who orders or assists in the commission of a federal crime.\nAiding and abetting means assisting in the commission of someone else\u2019s crime. Section 2(a) demands that the defendant embrace the crime of another and consciously do something to contribute to its success. An accomplice must know the offense is afoot if he is to intentionally contribute to its success. While a completed offense is a prerequisite to conviction for aiding and abetting, the hands-on offender need be neither named nor convicted.\nOn occasion, an accomplice will escape liability, either by judicial construction or administrative grace. This happens most often when there is a perceived culpability gap between accomplice and primary offender. Such accomplices are usually victims, customers, or subordinates of a primary offender. \nSection 2(b)(willfully causing a crime) applies to defendants who work through either witting or unwitting intermediaries, through the guilty or the innocent. Whether the intermediary is a subordinate or an undercover government agent, he may be well aware that his conduct constitutes an element of the underlying offense. On the other hand, whether the intermediary is a dupe or a facilitating governmental official, \u00a72(b) applies even if the intermediary is unaware of the nature of his conduct. Section 2(a) requires two guilty parties, a primary offender and an accomplice. Section 2(b) permits prosecution when there is only one guilty party, a \u201ccausing\u201d individual and an innocent agent. Both subsections, however, require a completed offense. \nFederal courts sometimes mention, but rarely apply, a withdrawal defense comparable to one available in conspiracy cases. Proponents of a general withdrawal defense in \u00a72 cases may find support in recent Supreme Court dicta. In Rosemond, the Court explained that an accomplice must know of the pending substantive offense in order to be shown to have embraced its commission. It did so in a manner suggesting that an accomplice might be able to withdraw and escape liability prior to the commission of the substantive offense, even if he had contributed to the crime\u2019s ultimate success.\nThere is no general civil aiding and abetting statute. Aiding and abetting a violation of a federal criminal law does not trigger civil liability unless Congress has said so in so many words. \nThis report is available in an abridged version as CRS Report R43770, Aiding, Abetting, and the Like: An Abbreviated Overview of 18 U.S.C. 2, by Charles Doyle.",
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  "topics": [
    "American Law",
    "Intelligence and National Security"
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}