Law I / Attempt, Desistance and Participation
Practice question · Select all that apply

Why is an attempt punished less severely than the completed offence?

Hints
  1. Three concern the harm and the graduation; one misdescribes the mental element.
  2. The intention in an attempt is exactly the intention of the completed offence.
Show the answer
  • A. The graduated reduction lets the court distinguish an attempt near completion from one barely begun
  • B. The legal good has not been harmed, only endangered
  • C. The penalty is reduced by one or two degrees according to the danger and the degree of execution reached
Why

The fourth gets the mental element backwards. The intention in an attempt is the full intention of the completed offence, that is what makes it an attempt at all. What is missing is the harm to the legal good, which is why the reduction is graduated by how close the conduct came and how dangerous it was.

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