This document discusses the elements of criminal liability, focusing on the material element and the concept of complicity in criminal law.
Extract
[...] Section Punishable Complicity > The French legal system recognizes the theory of borrowing criminality. Therefore, it is necessary to focus on the acts of the main author and the behavior of the accomplice. The acts of the main author > Regarding the nature of the acts of the author of the offense, the clear provisions of Article 121-7, paragraph stipulate that complicity is punishable for all offenses, including contraventions. > Indeed, if the main act is not punishable, complicity is not either, since it derives its criminal character from the main act. [...]
[...] Similarly, there is a commencement of execution in forcing the door of the house one wants to burglarize. > The subjectivist doctrine was theorized by Don Dieu de Var. For this author, there is a commencement of execution as soon as it is certain that the offender had an irreparable intention to commit the offense, to go all the way, when he forbids himself from returning. But we are not certain that this theory is perfectly in line with the protection of individual freedoms. [...]
[...] > In terms of the act tending to the commission of the offense, the criminal must have committed an act presenting a certain proximity to the consummation of the offense. Conversely, when the act does not present a certain proximity, it will be considered a preparatory act. In certain cases, the simple preparatory act will be considered a commencement of execution. This is the case when the criminal agent decides to obtain a weapon, places himself in a location to wait for the victim's habits, which are preparatory acts. [...]
[...] In a case, the Court of Cassation considered that the surrender committed by the fact that the criminal agent felt watched by the employees of the store in which he attempted to commit the theft should be considered as involuntary. > The moment of voluntary surrender: At what stage is the surrender voluntary? We must distinguish between voluntary surrender and active repentance. Unlike voluntary surrender, which occurs at the stage of commencement of execution, active repentance occurs after consummation. Voluntary surrender is not punishable in the sense that the offense has not been committed voluntarily. On the other hand, active repentance leaves the penal responsibility and does not grant immunity to the agent. [...]
[...] Thus, can the non-functionary accomplice of such an offense be prosecuted? Or in the case of parricide is this aggravating circumstance applicable to the accomplice?? L'Article 121-6 of the Penal Code now provides that the accomplice is punished as the author of the offense, that is, as if he had been himself the author of the principal punishable fact. Thus, in 2005, the Court of Cassation had ruled that the aggravating circumstances related to the quality of the principal author are applicable to the accomplice. [...]
