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§ 901. Criminal attempt

Purdon's Pennsylvania Statutes and Consolidated StatutesTitle 18 Pa.C.S.A. Crimes and Offenses

Purdon's Pennsylvania Statutes and Consolidated Statutes
Title 18 Pa.C.S.A. Crimes and Offenses (Refs & Annos)
Part I. Preliminary Provisions
Chapter 9. Inchoate Crimes (Refs & Annos)
18 Pa.C.S.A. § 901
§ 901. Criminal attempt
Currentness
(a) Definition of attempt.--A person commits an attempt when, with intent to commit a specific crime, he does any act which constitutes a substantial step toward the commission of that crime.
(b) Impossibility.--It shall not be a defense to a charge of attempt that because of a misapprehension of the circumstances it would have been impossible for the accused to commit the crime attempted.
(c) Renunciation.--
(1) In any prosecution for an attempt to commit a crime, it is a defense that, under circumstances manifesting a voluntary and complete renunciation of his criminal intent, the defendant avoided the commission of the crime attempted by abandoning his criminal effort and, if the mere abandonment was insufficient to accomplish such avoidance, by taking further and affirmative steps which prevented the commission thereof.
(2) A renunciation is not “voluntary and complete” within the meaning of this subsection if it is motivated in whole or part by:
(i) a belief that circumstances exist which increase the probability of detection or apprehension of the defendant or another participant in the criminal enterprise, or which render more difficult the accomplishment of the criminal purpose; or
(ii) a decision to postpone the criminal conduct until another time or to transfer the criminal effort to another victim or another but similar objective.

Credits

1972, Dec. 6, P.L. 1482, No. 334, § 1, effective June 6, 1973.
18 Pa.C.S.A. § 901, PA ST 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 901
Current through Act 10 of the 2024 Regular Session. Some statute sections may be more current, see credits for details.
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