OCR Text |
Show t t press its disapproval of a play by booing or other means. "But if a body of men were to go to the theatre with the settled intention of damning a piece, such a deliberate scheme preconcerted would amount to a conspiracy." Some of these cases seem humorous f enough today, though the defendants probably didn't think so at the time. But they help illustrate why authorities have dubbed conspiracy "the prosecutor's darling." In most of them, for examhad ple, the conspirators done nothing whatever to carry out their purpose. But conspirators don't have to. The bare agreement is enough to make them guilty. In some states, it is true (and in the Federal courts), at least one conspirator must commit an "overt act" before he and his can be prosecuted. But the act can be completely innocuous. A phone call will do. for conspiracy is sometimes greater than for the completed act. One needn't know the identity of one's or even know that they exist. Take, for example, the standard narcotics ring, in which one major "pusher" may deal through dozens of middlemen, each with his own stance, bank robbers agree among themselves that there is to be no violence. But, during the robbery, one thief mauls a teller to prevent him from pressing the alarm. All are chargeable with battery' even those who vzere nowhere near the scene. statements by co Out-of-cou- rt time or anywhere, for any act committed by any other member, supporting his case with practically any statement made by any one of them. As one lawyer, who asked not to be identified, remarked, "It certainly does save the prosecution a lot of homework." Does the conspiracy law, in its present form, serve a valid purpose? Is it consistent n with traditional notions of fair play? On the one hand, society has good reason to frustrate criminal plans before actual harm is done. This is why all countries punish individuals for attempted crimes, once the preparations pass a certain stage, even though the crimes are never carried Qut. And perhaps it is true, as courts have said, that the mere existence of a conspiracy is dangerous, because people who plot together are likelier to act than one person scheming alone. On the other hand, we have always been reluctant to sentence people for evil thoughts, or for deeds committed by someone else. Yet conspiracy law does just that. The late Supreme Court Justice Robert (ackson, no radical by any stretch of the imagination, once warned against "the growing habit to indict for conspiracy in lieu of prosecuting for the substantive offense." "Loose practice" in this area, wrote the justice, "constitutes a serious threat to fairness." Anglo-America- No crime Free quart of Satin Enamel And in all these old cases, a when you buy gallon of Rogers wall paint. the conspirators planned nothing criminal. Seduction, slander, and raising prices were not crimes. Yet conspiracy can be punishable, even if the conspiratorial objective is not, if, as one court put it, the purpose is to do someAvailable in an unsurpassed thing "immoral," or which collection of today's would "injure the public." In most popular one of the earliest American decorator colors. decisions, for instance, a If purchased Maryland court ruled that Sale ends separately this directors and officers of the combination June 3, 1972. Bank of the United States regularly sels for $8.68. could be prosecui d for conprice: Regular spiring to embele $1,S00,-00Fmbivzlement, the court a gallon, Satin Enamel-$2.6- 9 conceded, was not an offense a quart. in those days. But conspiracy to embezzle was. This prinRogers Paint-a- s seen on has reaffirmed been ciple Make a Dear "lets many times since, though it ABC-Traises grave constitutional questions today. There are other reasons why prosecutors find conspiracy so much to their liking. One is its very vagueness. ROGERS PAINT PRODUCTS available at Conspiracy (from the Latin Sherwin-William- s conspirare, "to breathe together,") has been defined as See Yellow Pages under paint for location of store nearest you. "a combination for an unlawful purpose." But the purpose needn't be spelled out in a formal agreement, as in s. All may be stable of an ordinary contract. All that is required conspirators, ordinarily excludable as treated as part of a single conspiracy, is a tacit understanding, a meeting of "hearsay," are often admissable in evithere is that aware dence against one another. are as as long the minds. And this can be proved they A conspiracy can be tried anyunTo overall of sort consome enterprise. circumstantially, from the way the where an overt act occurred. conof the this, derstand the and place implications spirators conduct themseh'ps, A conspiracy lasts until all its pursider: do. things they As long as the conspiracy lasts, A person can't be convicted, poses are accomplished, no matter how ay. each conspirator is responsible for the many years that takes. both of attempted robbery and robbery. Result: let a prosecutor establish a when The two offenses are said to "merge." crimes of his conthe to these are done accomplish But he can be convicted for robbery and conspiracy a nebulous thing and he for in can prosecute any member, almost any spiratorial purpose. Suppose, conspiring to rob. And the punishment I BOTH , bat wJifinish 99 Justice speaks 0. Stores street-vendor- More recently. Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, speaking for himself,. --Chief Justice Warren Burger, and Associate Justices Harry Blackmun and Byron White, noted the Court's "disfavor" toward "attempts to broaden the already pervasive and nets of conspiracy prosecutions." And European countries, while they do punish certain unlawful combinations, have never found it necessary to develop anything so sweeping as conspiracy the way it is understood here. Yet no one who is familiar, say, with the French courts would accuse them of "coddhng criminals." Perhaps the answer lies in new statutes, establishing stricter standards of proof, and eliminating responsibility for acts committed by others. Then the more obnoxious features of the present law could be consigned to the history books, as relics of a harsher age than our own. wide-sweepi- 19 |