What does the Model Penal Code say about attempted as opposed to completed crimes? According to research by Darley et al. (e.g., 1996), how does the position of the Model Penal Code differ from citizens' general views?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Answers may vary.According to the Model Penal Code, an offender who tries but fails is just as culpable as an offender who tries and succeeds. Psychologist John Darley and his colleagues asked respondents to read short scenarios that described people who had taken one or more steps toward committing either robbery or murder and to assign punishment to those people. They found that people's intuitions differed in predictable ways from the position of the Model Penal Code. In situations where the person depicted in the scenario had taken only preliminary action (e.g., examining the store he planned to burgle or telling a friend about his plan), few people thought he was guilty, and those who did, assigned mild punishments. Yet, according to the Model Penal Code, this person is just as guilty as one who actually completed the burglary. When the scenario described a person who had reached the point of "dangerous proximity" to the crime, punishments increased, but they still were only half as severe as those assigned to the person who actually completed the crime. Apparently, people do not accept the view that intent to commit an act is the moral equivalent of actually doing it. Their notions about criminality and the need for punishment are more nuanced and less "black and white" than what the Model Penal Code prescribed.