The term “aiding” and the term “abetting” are similar legal concepts, but each has a slightly different meaning. Aiding a crime means helping someone else commit a crime. Abetting means to encourage or incite a criminal act. Although to abet does not necessarily mean that you help or facilitate its execution.
Both aiding and abetting are crimes and forms of accomplice liability. A conviction usually comes with the same penalties as the underlying offense.
While the crime is often referred to as “aiding and abetting,” either one suffices. You can be liable if you aid a criminal activity, or if you abet it.1
What does it mean to aid a crime?
If you intentionally help someone else commit a crime, you are aiding them.
The crime has to be committed. The assistance has to help in the commission of the offense.2
To be liable for aiding a crime, you have to:
- know that the person you are helping is trying to commit a crime, and
- voluntarily act in a way that helps them commit it.3
Physical presence at the scene of the crime is not required. You can be liable for aiding a criminal offense if you were not there when it happened.4 However, it is treated as a factor in whether you were aiding in the offense.5
Example: Alan asks Bob for the floor plan of a bank’s vault so they can rob it. Bob gives it to him, but does not participate in the robbery. He stays at home, instead.
What is abetting?
Abetting a crime means encouraging or supporting it. That support can be active, in the form of instigation. It can also be passive. If you know the offense is happening and are present for its commission, you can be liable for abetting.6 By knowing it is happening and doing nothing, it can support the offense.
Some states use other words in place of, or in addition to, “abet.” Some of these words include:
- encourage,
- advise,
- counsel, or
- induce.7
Abetting still requires a shared intent to commit a crime with the perpetrator.
Example: Zach hires Alan to rob the bank. Alan then gets his team together and they conduct the robbery.
Example: Paul was in a car accident. He knows that his girlfriend is forging documents for his insurance claim. He goes along with it, anyway.8
How are they different and how are they similar?
There are 2 nuanced differences between aiding and abetting a crime:
- aiding a crime requires an act of assistance, while abetting does not, and
- unlike for abetting, there has to be evidence that the aid helped in the crime’s commission.
However, there are more similarities shared by aiding and abetting. These include:
- the crime has to be committed by someone,
- the aiding or abetting happens before the crime is committed,
- liability for aiding or abetting requires intent for the crime to happen,
- you have to know that the perpetrator intends to commit the crime, and
- physical presence at the scene of a crime is a factor for aiding or abetting, but is not necessary for liability.
Five common examples of aiding and abetting a crime are:
- encouraging someone else to commit a crime,
- providing information or equipment, knowing that it would be used in the commission of a crime,
- assisting with the commission of the crime,
- acting as a “lookout,” and
- acting as the “get-away” driver.
Note that aiding and abetting a crime does not require you to be present at the scene of the criminal act. You just have to help in its commission.
It is not aiding or abetting to help after the crime has occurred, though. That would be acting as an accessory after the fact.
Aiding and abetting a crime is a crime, itself. If you aid and abet a crime, you can face the same punishment as the person who committed it (“principal offender”).
Aiding and Abetting FAQ
1. Is it illegal to encourage someone else to commit a crime?
Encouraging someone to commit a criminal offense is considered aiding and abetting.
Encouragement can come in a lot of forms. Some of them include:
- telling someone else to commit a crime,
- hiring other people to do it, and
- not preventing a crime, if there is a legal duty to do so.
Example: A mother watches her boyfriend molest her 4-year-old daughter. She would be considered an aider and abettor of the boyfriend’s criminal activity.1
2. What about providing information or equipment?
Providing information or equipment, knowing that it would be used in the commission of an offense, is aiding and abetting.
Information frequently used to commit a crime includes:
- financial information,
- passwords,
- security codes,
- building blueprints,
- personnel files, and
- work schedules.
Some types of equipment are also frequently used to commit a crime:
- cars,
- office equipment, like a paper shredder,
- guns or other firearms, and
- cleaning chemicals.
Providing any of these, while knowing that they would be used for a criminal venture, can make you liable for being an aider and abettor in that offense.
Example: Bill tells Trey to provide a car for his crew to use when they rob a bank. Bill also tells Mandy to monitor the lobby to learn when the security guards change shifts.
3. What about intervening to help someone else commit the offense?
Intervening in a crime to help someone else commit it is aiding and abetting.
This can involve:
- holding someone down so they cannot fight back,
- blocking police from the scene of the crime, or
- physically attacking people trying to detain a criminal suspect.
To be aiding and abetting, though, this intervention has to be done with knowledge of the crime. Being unaware of the ongoing crime can defend against a charge of aiding and abetting.
Example: Phil sees two men fighting and tackles one of them. The other one flees with the wallet he had stolen. Phil’s intervention has helped him complete the crime, but he has not aided the offense.
4. Is acting as a “lookout” aiding and abetting a crime?
Yes, serving as the “lookout” is aiding and abetting. It helps the commission of the offense by warning the perpetrators that law enforcement is coming. This helps their escape.
This is one way for you to be liable for a crime that you could not accomplish on your own. It is also a common way to aid and abet a crime without being physically present.
Example: Knowing that Clyde is raping Cheryl in the bedroom of a fraternity house, Cindy stands outside the closed door to make sure no one comes in.
5. Are “get-away” drivers aiding and abetting?
Yes, if you help someone get away from the scene of a crime, you can be liable for aiding and abetting.
Especially for crimes involving robbery or theft, courts have deemed the escape phase to be a part of the offense. This means a get-away driver is aiding and abetting the crime, not an accessory after the fact.2
Example: Trey waits for Bill’s crew to rob the bank. When they rush out, they hop in his car and he speeds away.
What is accomplice liability?
Both aiding and abetting are examples of accomplice liability.
This is liability for a crime that was committed by someone else. Under accomplice liability, you can be punished for a crime that someone else committed.
Examples of accomplice liability include:
- aiding,
- abetting, or
- being an accessory after the fact.
The person who actually commits the crime is the principal. Their helpers – including those who aid or abet in the crime – are accomplices. If you help after the crime is complete, you are an accessory after the fact.
What elements do all of these examples have in common?
All of these examples satisfy the requirements of aiding and abetting. In California, these are:
- A perpetrator committed the crime,
- You knew the perpetrator intended to commit the crime,
- Before or during the crime, you had the criminal intent to help in its commission (“requisite intent”), and
- Your conduct did in fact help to commit the crime.
When these four factors are satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt, you could be convicted at trial for aiding and abetting the offense. You face the same penalties as the perpetrator would.
What are the penalties for aiding or abetting a crime?
The penalties for aiding or abetting a crime depend on the crime, itself.
Most states use the same penalties for aiding and abetting as for the crime. These states treat accomplices the same as the principal of a crime. California is one of these states.9
Additional reading
For more in-depth information, refer to these scholarly articles:
- To Aid, Abet, Counsel, Command, Induce, or Procure the Commission of an Offense: A Critique to Federal Aiding and Abetting Principles – South Carolina Law Review.
- Criminal Law – Accomplice Liability – A Defendant Who Intents to Aid, Abet, Counsel, or Procure the Commission of a Crime, Is Liable for That Crime as well as the Natural and Probably Consequences of that Crime – People v. Robinson – University of Detroit Mercy Law Review.
- Reassessing the Theoretical Underpinnings of Accomplice Liability: New Solutions to an Old Problem – Hastings Law Journal.
- Accomplice Liability for Unintentional Crimes: Remaining within the Constraints of Intent – Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review.
- Causing, Aiding, and the Superfluity of Accomplice Liability – University of Pennsylvania Law Review.
Legal References:
- People v. Campbell, 25 Cal.App.4th 402 (1994).
- California Criminal Jury Instructions (CALCRIM) 401.
- People v. Beeman, 674 P.2d 1318 (1984).
- People v. Sarkis, 222 Cal.App.3d 23 (1990).
- People v. Singleton, 196 Cal.App.3d 488 (1987).
- People v. Campbell, Supra.
- California Penal Code 31 PC.
- People v. Booth, 48 Cal.App.4th 1247 (1996).
- California Penal Code 31 PC.
