Also known as: acts in furtherance of the conspiracy · overt act
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
An act performed by a conspirator to advance the objectives of the unlawful agreement. In jurisdictions that impose the requirement, the act supplies the additional element needed for conviction when the underlying offense is not a first- or second-degree felony.
Caleb and Omar agreed that Omar would stage a warehouse fire and Caleb would inflate the insurance claim. Omar then purchased extra flammable materials and rearranged stock in one corner. Those purchases and rearrangements supplied the required act in furtherance of the conspiracy.
Henry and Laura agreed to delete failure entries from the test database so substandard panels could ship. Henry created an altered report and saved it to a hidden server directory. The internal creation and saving of the file constituted the overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Malik and a second conspirator agreed to kill Jenna by sabotaging her car. Malik crawled under the vehicle and severed the brake lines while the second conspirator stood watch. The cutting supplied the overt act in furtherance that completed the conspiracy.
Carla and a fellow conspirator agreed to administer a lethal substance to Victor. Carla filled the syringe and inserted it into the IV port while the other conspirator distracted staff. The insertion constituted the overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy.
Dorothy proposed altering disbursement sheets to divert client funds and Frances shook hands on the plan. Dorothy later prepared the false sheets. Under traditional common law the agreement alone completed the conspiracy, but the later preparation supplied an overt act where required.
Henry and Laura agreed that Henry would delete failure entries from the test database. Henry later created and saved an altered report file to a hidden directory. That internal file creation served as the overt act in furtherance even though the file was never transmitted.
No. Traditional common law treats the agreement itself as the completed offense and imposes no overt-act requirement. Many modern jurisdictions, including those following the Model Penal Code, require proof of an overt act for conspiracies other than first- or second-degree felonies.
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Any step taken by a conspirator that advances the criminal objective satisfies the requirement. Preparatory acts such as purchasing materials, creating altered records, or saving files to a server have been held sufficient when they move the plan forward.
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No. Once any conspirator commits an overt act in furtherance, the offense is complete. Subsequent withdrawal or renunciation does not negate liability under traditional common law or under the Model Penal Code absent a complete and voluntary thwarting of the conspiracy.
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…this charge and refusal to charge the question is raised, whether religious belief can be accepted as a justification of an overt act made criminal by the law of the land. The inquiry is not as to the power of Congress to prescribe criminal laws for the Territories, but as to the guilt of one who knowingly violates a law…