ATTEMPT

attempt,n.1. The act or an instance of making an effort to accomplish something, esp. without

success. 2.Criminal law. An overt act that is done with the intent to commit a crime but that falls

short of completing the crime. • Attempt is an inchoate offense distinct from the attempted crime.

Under  the  Model  Penal  Code,  an  attempt  includes  any  act  that  is  a  substantial  step  toward

commission  of  a  crime,  such  as  enticing,  lying  in  wait  for,  or  following  the  intended  victim  or

unlawfully entering a building where a crime is expected to be committed. See Model Penal Code

• 5.01. —  Also  termed  criminal  attempt;  offer.  See  DANGEROUS-PROXIMITY  TEST;

INDISPENSABLE-ELEMENT           TEST          ;          LAST-PROXIMATE-ACT           TEST;

PHYSICAL-PROXIMITY  TEST;  PROBABLE-DESISTANCE  TEST  ;  RES  IPSA  LOQUITUR

TEST. Cf. CONSPIRACY; SOLICITATION(2). [Cases: Criminal Law    44. C.J.S. Criminal Law

• § 114–123.] — attempt,vb.

“An attempt to commit an indictable  offence is itself a crime. Every attempt is an act done

with intent to commit the offence so attempted. The existence  of this ulterior intent or  motive is

the essence of the attempt…. [Yet] [a]lthough every attempt is an act done with intent to commit a

crime, the converse is not true. Every act done with this intent is not an attempt, for it may be too

remote from the completed offence to give rise to criminal liability, notwithstanding the criminal

purpose  of  the  doer.  I  may  buy  matches  with  intent  to  burn  a  haystack,  and  yet  be  clear  of

attempted  arson;  but  if  I  go  to  the  stack  and  there  light  one  of  the  matches,  my  intent  has

developed into a criminal attempt.” John Salmond, Jurisprudence 387 (Glanville L. Williams ed.,  10th ed. 1947).

“Attempt  …  is  the  most  common  of  the  preliminary  crimes.  It  consists  of  steps  taken  in

furtherance of an indictable offence which the person attempting intends to carry out if he can. As

we  have  seen  there  can  be  a  long  chain  of  such  steps  and  it  is  necessary  to  have  some  test  by

which to decide that the particular link in the chain has been reached at which the crime of attempt

has been achieved; that link will represent the actus reus of attempt ….” J.W. Cecil Turner, Kenny’s

Outlines of Criminal Law 79 (16th ed. 1952).[Blacks Law 8th]