Attempt

one of the stages in the commission of a crime. According to Soviet criminal law, an attempt is a deliberate action immediately directed at the commission of a crime, which is not brought to completion for reasons independent of the will of the guilty person. A distinction is made between complete and incomplete attempts, depending on whether the guilty person did everything he considered necessary to carry out his intention. A further distinction is made between attempts in circumstances that make accomplishment of the criminal objective impossible (faulty attempts; negodnye pokusheniia) and attempts where it is possible (godnye pokusheniia). Punishment for an attempt is set according to the statute that provides for liability for the corresponding crime, with regard for the nature and degree of social danger of the actions, the degree of accomplishment of the criminal intention, and the factors that prevented the crime from being brought to completion.