Consultation Paper on Inchoate Offences - Law Reform Commission

one resulted in conviction by the jury, two resulted in convictions on guiltypleas, one in conviction for a lesser offence, and for three there is no data.1.23 On two occasions in the four year period, 2002-2005, what startedas a rape prosecution resulted in conviction for attempted rape. In the sameperiod there were eight convictions for a lesser offence, other than attemptedrape, resulting from 164 rape prosecutions. Here, attempted rape differsfrom attempted murder in that it does seem to serve a limited “fall-back”function for rape prosecutions that do not succeed. One might venture toexplain this by reference to the difference between murder and attemptedmurder being the death of the victim, and whether a victim has died or notcan be proved with certainty. In contrast, it is not so easy to prove the factdistinguishing rape from attempted rape, that fact being sexual penetration.1.24 Attempted burglary and attempted robbery are subsumed underburglary and robbery respectively, and are therefore not distinguished in theDPP‟s statistics. The Commission, nevertheless, understands that outside ofthe Central Criminal Court, prosecutions for attempted burglary andattempted robbery commonly feature in the Circuit Criminal Court.(2) Inchoate offences in the wide sense1.25 Inchoate offences in the wide sense means all those offences thatcriminalize conduct leading to, but not occasioning, the harm that societyseeks to prevent through the use of criminal law. Inchoate offences in thewide sense, therefore, includes attempting, inciting or conspiring to commitcrimes. It also includes many stand alone special part offences in statutes,such as possession offences and endangerment offences. These may becalled statutory inchoate offences.1.26 Statutory inchoate offences feature more frequently than thecommon law inchoate offences of attempt, conspiracy, and incitementattaching to substantive crimes. Examples include:Possession of a firearm without a firearm certificate. 36Possession of a knife in public. 37Dangerous driving. 381.27 The 2006 Annual Report of the Courts Service details the offencesdisposed of in the Special Criminal Court. The offences are:Membership of an unlawful organisation. 39363738Section 2 of the Firearms Act 1925 as amended.Section 9 of the Firearms and Offensive Weapons Act 1990.Section 53 of the Road Traffic Act 1961 as amended.15