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57 S. C. L. Rev. 85 (2005-2006)
To Aid, Abet, Counsel, Command, Induce, or Procure the Commission of an Offense: A Critique to Federal Aiding and Abetting Principles

handle is hein.journals/sclr57 and id is 95 raw text is: To AID, ABET, COUNSEL, COMMAND, INDUCE, OR PROCURE THE
COMMISSION OF AN OFFENSE: A CRITIQUE OF FEDERAL AIDING
AND ABETTING PRINCIPLES
ADAM HARRIS KURLAND*
I.  INTRODUCTION ............................................... 85
H. THE PROBLEMS WITH FEDERAL AIDING AND ABETTING DOCTRINE ..... 89
III. AIDING AND ABETTING RUN AMOK: A CASE STUDY ............... 118
IV. CONCLUSION ............................................... 135
I. INTRODUCTION
Federal aiding and abetting law, which has been spinning out of control for
quite some time, has now spun totally out of control. For decades, prosecutors have
successfully used pliant legal doctrines to impose criminal accessorial liability.
Today, prosecutors are inconsistently applying and misapplying these doctrines to
the point of abuse, confusion, and unfairness.'
The problem has several dimensions. First, misapplication of aiding and
abetting principles invariably results in an improper easing of the requisite mens rea
requirements for conviction. As a result, the integrity of the criminal justice process
is fundamentally compromised.
* Professor of Law, Howard University School of Law. I wish to thank Vemida Chaney, J.D.
2005, Howard University School of Law, for her research assistance. I also wish to thank Dean Kurt
Schmoke and Howard University School of Law for providing research funding for this Article.
This Article uses male pronouns to refer to federal criminal defendants. The majority of federal
criminal defendants are male, although the percentage of female defendants is increasing. See UNITED
STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, BUREAU OF JUSTICE STATISTICS SOURCEBOOKOF CRIMINALJUSTICE
STATISTICS 2002 417 (2003) (noting that males constituted 85.4 % of all convicted federal defendants
in 2000). This Article uses female pronouns to refer to legal counsel. Females make up 48 % of
currently enrolled law students in ABA-approved law schools. ABA 2004 Enrollment Statistics, Letter
by David Rosenlieb, Data Specialist for Office of the Consultant on Legal Education and Admissions
to the Bar, Jan. 12, 2005 (copy on file with the author). See also Claire G. Schwab, A Shifting Gender
Divide: The Impact of Gender on Education at Columbia Law School in the New Millennium, 36
COLUM. J.L. & SOC. PROBS. 299, 310 (2003) (noting the enrollment trends of the past two decades
indicate women will constitute a majority of all law students around 2005).
I. A recent article noted the multiple approaches to mens rea standards for federal criminal
offenses and concluded that federal aiding and abetting law is in a state of chaos. Baruch Weiss,
What Were They Thinking?: The Mental States of the Aider and Abettor and the Causer Under
Federal Law, 70 FORDHAm L. REV. 1341, 1355 (2002).

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