The Illustrated Guide to Criminal Law
Chapter 9: At Least You Tried
Page 17: Attempt is Intentional
Note that this continuum is only measuring the actus reus. That’s because for ALL attempts, the necessary mens rea is the same:
INTENT.
Average Joe as a noir detective
AVERAGE JOE
That’s pretty obvious, if you think about it.
“Attempt” sort of means “trying,” doesn’t it?
And if it’s not intentional, you’re not trying!
Now the closer the line is drawn to the “idea” end of the spectrum, the more likely it is to cause some unfair results.
One case I have heard of: Loudmouth talked about how he was going to steal a company payroll, to somebody who told the cops among others. So when he showed up where the payroll clerk, and payroll, were supposed to be, so did several hidden cops. But to everybody’s sorrow, the payroll clerk never showed up and everybody just stood around, until Loudmouth gave up and went to drown his sorrows at a bar, and of course, to complain about his bad luck, of course to a cop, who promptly arrest him for attempted robbery. But the judge said no. Loudmouth had done nothing illegal, and thus had attempted nothing illegal.
That poor cop, I’m sure the others gave him crap for it.