What Constitutes as Solicitation?
Solicitation. If you look this particular term up in a dictionary, you will find a few definitions.
- When someone asks for, or attempts to acquire, things or services from a person.
- The legal term for prostituting oneself.
- Seeking good or services through passionate begging and pleading.
When looking into the legal definition of solicitation, several variations emerge depending on what jurisdiction it occurs in and what particular goods or services are involved; “solicitation to commit a crime,” for example, is when someone compels another person to become involved in crime. This article will focus on the definition of solicitation according to the legal code of the United States.
The U.S. sees solicitation as an “inchoate” crime, that is, it is a criminal charge that precedes a charge more closely related to the individual crime(s) being perpetrated. Any time a person offers money or gets a person to commit a crime, is considered solicitation. At the federal level, being convicted of solicitation means that the court could prove the defendant intended to get another person to pursue a felony and that the defendant succeeded in getting the other party to agree to committing the felony.
When Does a Crime Become Solicited?
Most of the time, the United States considers a crime to be solicitation if there is some sort of commercial aspect to it, such as receiving payment. Unlike the crime of conspiracy, solicitation involves no overt steps; one person can serve as a defendant and the charge merges with whatever substantive crime was committed, such as prostitution or selling counterfeit merchandise. Note that it is unnecessary for the defendant to have actually committed the crime nor that the solicited party has the ability or willingness to engage in the crime; a solicitor who compels a bystander to pose as an undercover cop is guilty of solicitation even if the “solicitee” lacked the necessary equipment, credentials or interest. Conversely, if party A demands party B perpetrate a crime upon party C, but party A is acting under the assumption that his demands to party B are not criminal in nature, erroneously believing party C’s consent has been given, party A is not guilty of solicitation.
Charging someone with solicitation undergoes a curious change if a third party, unrelated to the crimes being solicited, is made aware of the solicitation without the solicitor being aware, either from overhearing a conversation or reading digital correspondence between the solicitor and solicitee. A handful of jurisdictions within the country believe that even this scenario would qualify as solicitation, despite the defendant never intending for the second party to pursue the criminal activity.
Solicitation and The Doctrine of Merger
Another factor regarding solicitation is doctrine of merger, which becomes relevant where the solicitee agrees to engage in the solicited criminal activities. Going by the above examples of multiple parties, parties A and B could both be charged as accomplices to whatever crimes were being solicited. Note that a person cannot be punished for solicitation and the crime being solicited.
“So Does That Mean Door-to-Door Salesmen Are Criminals?”
This particular practice, going residence to residence in order to sell some good or service, is indeed illegal if the vendor ignores signage forbidding solicitation on the premises. It is such a solicitor’s duty to look for, and abide by, any such signage. Some cities even go as far as training their employees on the proper etiquette of going door-to-door and are taught to always carry a badge, card or other form of verifiable identification that must always be shown when it is requested.
The dimensions and font size of “no solicitor” signs may be dictated by city ordinances, so as to ensure that all parties are operating in a manner that is legally protected; a homeowner may claim to have a “no solicitor” sign that is just a sticker on their front door and gives insufficient notice to the solicitor-he is already at the residence’s door. Some signs may even quote local codes and consequences for ignoring them. While such signs are not legally required, they tend to reduce any unwanted harassment.
