Accomplices, Accessories, Aiders, and Abettors

Emergency :
911
Suicide/crisis :
988
EAP support :
800-865-1044

Emergency :

911

Suicide/crisis :

988

EAP support :

800-865-1044

Language

Log out

Appointments

Language

Appointments

This is your Member Reference Number (MRN). You’ll need to provide this when you make an appointment with an EAP counselor or contact your EAP by phone.

Log out

Anthem provides automatic translation into multiple languages, courtesy of Google Translate. This tool is provided for your convenience only. The English language version is considered the most accurate, and in the event of a discrepancy between the translations, the English version will prevail. This translation tool is not controlled by Anthem, and the Anthem Privacy Statement will not apply. Please read Google's privacy statement. If you want Google to translate the Anthem website, select a language.

How criminals are defined from accomplices to aiders and abettors to conspirators depends on their participation in the crime.

States define criminals in different ways principals, accomplices, accessories, aiders, abettors, and conspirators depending on how the person participates in the crime. For instance, in a bank robbery, one person may enter the bank and conduct the holdup, while another person is waiting in the getaway car and a third person is positioned at a different location as a spotter.

Principals and Accomplices

As a general rule, the law refers to the main actor in a crime as the principal and to assisting persons as accomplices. Technically, an accomplice is one who intentionally helps another to commit a crime.

Even if an accomplice does not carry out the crime, in the eyes of the law the accomplice's pre-crime assistance makes him or her just as guilty as the person who does the deed itself. For example, assume that Lars Senny breaks into a warehouse and steals property belonging to the warehouse owner. Hal Perr would be Lars's accomplice and just as guilty as Lars if Hal takes any of the following steps to assist Lars to commit the theft:

Hal works in the warehouse and drugs the warehouse nightwatchman before leaving work on the day of the theft.
Hal cuts the wires to the burglar alarm (or cuts a hole in the fence) so that Lars can enter the warehouse without being detected.
Hal is a designer of warehouses and meets with Lars a week before the theft to review warehouse layouts and exit routes.
Hal rents a U-Haul and parks it outside the warehouse on the night of the robbery.
Knowing what Lars has in mind, Hal agrees to babysit for Lars's infant child while Lars goes to the warehouse.

To prove that a defendant is an accomplice, the government must prove that he or she intentionally aided in the commission of a crime. This means that the defendant must realize that the principal is going to commit a crime and that the accomplice intends to help the crime succeed.

Accomplices, Accessories, Aiders and Abettors, and Principals

To distinguish the criminal culpability of one from another, the common law developed specialized terms for the various ways in which one could be an accomplice. For instance, a "principal in the first degree" was the person who actually carried out a crime. A "principal in the second degree" (an "aider and abettor") was a helper who was present at a crime scene but in a passive role, such as acting as a "lookout." An "accessory before the fact" was a helper who was not present at the crime scene. While some state laws retain the common law terminology, few states make any distinction between the criminal liability of crime perpetrators and their accomplices. All can be punished equally, whether they actually perpetrate a crime or only help bring it about.

Accessory After the Fact

An accessory after the fact is someone who, knowing that a felon has finished committing a crime (usually the crime has to be a felony), helps the felon avoid arrest or trial. In most states, accessories after the fact face far less punishment than accomplices or principals.

Conspirators

Conspirators are two or more people who agree to commit a crime. (The distinction between accomplices and conspirators is that the former are "helpers," while each conspirator is a principal.) Conspiracy is a controversial crime, in part because conspirators can be guilty even if the crime that they agree to commit never occurs. As a result, conspirators can be punished for their illegal plans rather than for what they actually do. As some protection against convicting people purely for their private thoughts, in most states conspirators are not guilty of the crime of conspiracy unless at least one of them commits an "overt act." An "overt act" is an activity that in some way moves a conspiracy into motion.

To Learn More

For more information and answers to your questions about every part of a criminal case, see The Criminal Law Handbook: Know Your Rights, Survive the System, by Paul Bergman and Sara Berman (Nolo).

http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/accomplices-accessories-aiders-abettors-30145.html