"If you willfully intend to break the law, but fail to actually break the law, you can still be charged and convicted of a crime"
Suppose I try to kill you using my specially crafted voodoo doll, but fail to do so (my magic powers are not what they used to be) then I can still be convicted? What if I curse someone, is that enough to be convicted? I doubt it.
There is something called "moral luck" in philosophy, which relates to this.
I should probably give up, because clearly my wording was poor...
By 'willfully intend' I meant basically what jlgreco said, 'take concrete action in an attempt to commit a crime' and I fully understand that the charge for that is different than the charge if you were successful in the act.
If you 'willfully intend' to commit murder by sticking pins in a voodoo doll, you are crazy but probably not guilty of attempted murder.
I'm not exactly sure what the jury instructions would say. Is it whether the act would reasonably result in death, or whether the defendant believed at the time that the act would result in the death of their chosen victim?
Often times, trying to kill someone in a way that is extremely unlikely to actually result in their death doesn't save you from getting charged. A good example is Ross Ulbrich hiring a hitman online for bitcoins. Twice.
Suppose I try to kill you using my specially crafted voodoo doll, but fail to do so (my magic powers are not what they used to be) then I can still be convicted? What if I curse someone, is that enough to be convicted? I doubt it.
There is something called "moral luck" in philosophy, which relates to this.