Conspiracy, Complicity, and the Scope of Contemplated Crime

Kimberly Kessler Ferzan

Earle Hepburn Professor of Law Co-Director
Institute of Law & Philosophy 
University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School

One of the leading casebooks for the first-year Criminal Law course begins the mens rea discussion with Regina v. Cunningham. Cunningham, in need of money, decided to rip the gas meter off the residential gas pipe in his soon-to-be basement to steal the shillings inside. That Cunningham was guilty of theft was uncontroversial. The problem was that Cunningham did not turn off the gas, and it seeped into the adjacent home, partially asphyxiating the neighbor, Sarah Wade.

Conspiracy, Complicity, and the Scope of Contemplated Crime, Kimberly Ferzan, Earle Hepburn Professor of Law and Co-Director for the Institute of Law & Philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, discusses her paper Conspiracy, Complicity, and the Scope of Contemplated Crime that she authored for the Guilty Minds Virtual Conference hosted by the Academy for Justice and Arizona State Law Journal.
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