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3. If the man is charged with attempting to violate this statute, he is
A statute in the jurisdiction provides: «A person commits rape in the second degree if he has sexual intercourse with a girl, not his wife, who is under the age of 16 years.»
A girl told a man she would like to have sexual intercourse with him and that he should come to her apartment that night at 7 p.m. After the man arrived, he and the girl went into the bedroom. As the man started to remove the girl's blouse, the girl said she had changed her mind. The man tried to convince her to have intercourse with him but after ten minutes of her sustained refusals, the man left the apartment. Unknown to the man, the girl was 15 years old. Because she appeared to be older, the man believed her to be about 18 years old.
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Attempt is a specific intent crime; a person cannot attempt to commit a crime without meaning to engage in conduct that would result in that crime occurring. Attempt requires that a defendant act with the specific intent to commit the target crime, regardless of the intent required by that target offense itself. Therefore, although strict liability crimes do not require criminal intent, an attempt to commit a strict liability crime requires the defendant to act with the intent to bring about the specific result proscribed by the law.
To withdraw from an attempt, a defendant must completely and voluntarily renounce his or her criminal purpose, as well as prevent the successful completion of the crime, and usually, the attempt is complete after the defendant takes a substantial step beyond mere preparation toward committing the crime.
D is correct. The man here is not being charged with statutory rape, but rather, attempted statutory rape. Therefore, the man must have acted with the specific intent to have sexual intercourse with a girl under the statutory age limit of 16. The man believed that the girl was almost 18, and therefore, he did not have the specific intent to engage in conduct that would have violated the statute, and he cannot be held guilty of attempt.
A is incorrect. The man is being charged with attempted statutory rape, not statutory rape itself. Thus, the man must have acted with the specific intent to commit statutory rape. Going to the girl's house, starting to remove her blouse, and trying to convince her to have intercourse with him may constitute substantial steps beyond mere preparation toward committing statutory rape. However, in order to be guilty of attempt, the man also would have needed the intent to have sex with a girl under the age of 16. Because he believed that the girl was about 18 years-old, the man did not possess the specific intent for attempted statutory rape. Without that intent, the man cannot be held guilty of attempt even if his acts constituted substantial steps.
B is incorrect. This answer ignores the specific intent requirement for a charge of attempted statutory rape and instead addresses the issue of whether the man's conduct constituted a substantial step toward the commission of the offense. However, as noted above, he cannot be found guilty even if he committed that substantial step because he lacked the requisite mental state for attempt.
C is incorrect. Because statutory rape is a strict liability crime, the required intent is just to take actions that result in having sexual intercourse with a person under the age limit designated by the statute (here, 16), and any mistake on the part of the defendant or even actual consent by the minor, is not a defense.