Conspiracy to murder is a

statutory A statute is a law or formal written enactment of a legislature. Statutes typically declare, command or prohibit something. Statutes are distinguished from court law and unwritten law (also known as common law) in that they are the expressed wil ...

offence defined by the intent to commit

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse committed with the necessary Intention (criminal law), intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisd ...

England and Wales

The offence of conspiracy to murder was created in statutory law by section 4 of the

Offences Against the Person Act 1861 The Offences against the Person Act 1861 ( 24 & 25 Vict. c. 100) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that consolidated provisions related to offences against the person (an expression which, in particular, includes offences of ...

and retained as an offence by virtue of section 1(1) of the

Criminal Law Act 1977 The Criminal Law Act 1977 (c. 45) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Most of it only applies to England and Wales. It creates the offence of conspiracy in English law. It also created offences concerned with criminal trespass i ...

. ''

Mens rea In criminal law, (; Law Latin for "guilty mind") is the mental state of a defendant who is accused of committing a crime. In common law jurisdictions, most crimes require proof both of ''mens rea'' and '' actus reus'' ("guilty act") before th ...

'': Although an intention to cause

grievous bodily harm Assault occasioning grievous bodily harm (often abbreviated to GBH) is a term used in English criminal law to describe the severest forms of battery. It refers to two offences that are created by sections 18 and 20 of the Offences against the ...

is sufficient for

, it is not sufficient for conspiracy to murder.

Jurisdiction

Section 1(4) of the Criminal Law Act 1977 formerly provided that it was immaterial that the murder in question would not be triable in England and Wales if committed in accordance with the intention of the parties to the agreement. This reproduced the effect of section 4 of the 1861 Act. See now section 1A of the Criminal Law Act 1977.

Sentence

A person guilty of conspiracy to murder is liable to imprisonment for life or for any shorter term. As to the maximum sentence in a case where the agreement was entered into before Part I of the Criminal Law Act 1977 came into force, see section 5(5) of that Act. See th
Crown Prosecution Service sentencing manual
The following cases are relevant: *''R v Khalil and others'' *''R v McNee, Russell and Gunn'' *''R v Barot'' (see Dhiren Barot)

Northern Ireland

Conspiracy to murder is an offence by virtue o
article 9(1)
of the Criminal Attempts and Conspiracy (Northern Ireland) Order 1983 (S.I. 1983/1120 (N.I. 13)).

Jurisdiction

See, formerly, article 9(4) of that Order.

Sentence

See article 11(2)(a).

Republic of Ireland

The offence of conspiracy to murder is created by section 4 of the

Offences against the Person Act 1861 The Offences against the Person Act 1861 ( 24 & 25 Vict. c. 100) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that consolidated provisions related to offences against the person (an expression which, in particular, includes offences of ...

Canada

Section 465 of the country's ''Criminal Code'' makes

conspiracy A conspiracy, also known as a plot, ploy, or scheme, is a secret plan or agreement between people (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder, treason, or corruption, especially with a political motivat ...

to commit

indictable offence In many common law jurisdictions (e.g. England and Wales, Ireland, Canada, Hong Kong, India, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore), an indictable offence is an offence which can only be tried on an indictment after a preliminary hearing ...

, punishable by a maximum term of

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence (law), sentence of imprisonment under which the convicted individual is to remain incarcerated for the rest of their natural life (or until pardoned or commuted to a fixed term). Crimes that result in life impr ...

Australia

The law varies between states with the maximum sentence for this offence being 14 years' imprisonment in Queensland and 25 years' imprisonment in New South Wales.

New Zealand

In New Zealand law, the penalty for the offence of conspiracy to murder is up to 10 years imprisonment, which is set out in section 175 of the

Crimes Act 1961 The Crimes Act 1961 is an act of New Zealand Parliament that forms a leading part of the criminal law in New Zealand. It repeals the Crimes Act 1908, itself a successor of the Criminal Code Act 1893. Most crimes in New Zealand are created by t ...

. The intended murder need not happen in New Zealand.

United States

Conspiracy to murder is a defined crime in most jurisdictions in the United States, and normally does not require a murder actually occurring. Federally, it is punishable under Title 18 by up to

References

{{English criminal law navbox Crimes Conspiracy (criminal) Criminal law of the United Kingdom Canadian criminal law