Attempted Violations Doctrine

Written by Chief Justice Terry - July 29 2021

The Attempted Violations Doctrine contains guidelines relating to the justification of the prosecution of attempts to violate certain laws.

This doctrine only applies to laws if all of the following conditions are met: 1) The law which the suspect attempted to violate does not have an existing attempt-to-commit charge and also does not include "attempt to commit" within the code itself. 2) The law which the suspect attempted to violate does not logically make sense when characterized by the term 'attempted.' (See examples below)

In the event of a suspect being apprehended for the act of merely attempting to violate a penal code, their sentence and other fines or penalties for said crime shall be half of what is codified in the violation itself.

Examples:

'Murder' is not covered by the Attempted Violations Doctrine because 'Attempted Murder' is a standalone crime in the penal code.

Resisting, evading, and eluding are not covered by the Attempted Violations Doctrine because these are generally attempts to escape, and if we were to apply this logic, every single person who were to be arrested for 'evasion' would be charged with 'attempted evasion' because evasion, in itself, is the crime of fleeing law enforcement, however, if they were caught, then it was merely a failed attempt to flee (because they are now in custody). This is a confusing and looping logic which we hope to avoid entirely by simply stating "Resisting, evading, and eluding are not covered by the Attempted Violations Doctrine."

All of the codes related to Assault and Battery are not covered by the Attempted Violations Doctrine because Assault is an attempt to commit Battery.