Dumb and Dumber: Reckless Encouragement 649
D UMB AND DUMBER: RECKLESS ENCOURAGEMENT TO RECKLESS WRONGDOERS Daniel G. Moriarty* This paper discusses compound recklessness, i.e. situations in which one person’s heedlessness helps another to commit a reckless offense. The conviction of the second party, who actually commits the offense, poses no unique problem. Offenses committable through various forms of criminal negligence and recklessness, such as involuntary manslaughter, are routinely available in every jurisdiction. But conviction of the first party who recklessly provided the means or opportunity for the second party’s acts poses significant problems. Part I of this paper looks at several cases which present illustrations of the kind of situations encountered. In Part II, the paper considers some of the complications involved in reaching an appropriate resolution of this dilemma. Part II A considers complicity as a possible solution but concludes it is unavailable as it requires an intention to aid another, which is absent in cases of recklessness and negligence. Part II B considers whether principles of causation might be utilized, but concludes they, too, are unsuitable. The second party’s criminally reckless or negligent activity is apt to be considered an intervening, superseding cause, leaving the first party free of any criminal liability for harms caused by the final actor. Part II C considers the relatively new offense of Reckless Endangerment, an offense pioneered by the Model Penal Code which could, unlike complicity or causation, provide a means to criminally sanction the initially reckless individual who aids another in committing a reckless offense. Reckless endangerment is ultimately unsuitable, however, for while it may well be available in most states (sixty percent), it is by no means available in all, and where it is available is generally graded as a misdemeanor only, with a maximum imposable prison term of about a year.
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