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To encourage or incite another to commit a crime. This word is usually applied to aiding in the commission of a crime. To abet another to commit a murder is to command, procure, counsel, encourage, induce, or assist. To facilitate the commission of a crime, promote its accomplishment, or help in advancing or bringing it about.

In relation to charge of aiding and abetting, term includes knowledge of the perpetrator's wrongful purpose, and encouragement, promotion or counsel of another in the commission of the criminal offense.

A French word, abeter—to bait or excite an animal.

For example, the manager of a jewelry store fails to turn on the store's silent alarm on the night she knows her cousin plans to rob the store. Her conduct is that of abetting the Robbery. If, however, she merely forgot to turn on the alarm, she would not have abetted the crime.

The word abet is most commonly used as part of the comprehensive phrase aid and abet.


v. to help someone commit a crime, including helping them escape from police or plan the crime. (See: aid and abet)



TO ABET, crim. law. To encourage or set another on to commit a crime. This word is always taken in a bad sense. To abet another to commit a murder, is to command, procure, or counsel him to commit it. Old Nat. Brev 21; Col Litt. 475.

References in periodicals archive ?
It is a fundamental tenet of our criminal justice system that one who aids and abets the commission of an offense "is punishable as a principal." Gordillo is thus unable to insulate himself from, and remains exposed to, the same criminal liability for having aided and abetted an attempted murder as those who attempted the murder.
Regulators are said to be assessing the bank's role in the ponzi scheme, and last week an independent trustee appointed by the federal bankruptcy court in San Francisco filed a lawsuit saying that the bank had 'knowingly aided and abetted' Viola's activities and also failed to oversee his account.
As such, no rational trier of fact could have concluded that Gardner aided and abetted [the principal's] gun-possession.
(152) In the words of Bradford's decision, "certain American citizens trading to the coast of Africa, on the 28th of September last, voluntarily joined, conducted, aided, and abetted a French fleet in attacking the settlement." (153) Bradford, working through the questions of jurisdiction and possible claims, settled that these crimes of attacking foreign ships in peacetime on the high seas were addressable:
The typical allegation in such cases is that the law firm aided and abetted the dishonest client's breach of fiduciary duty, fraud, or other misconduct, thus harming third parties.
Since no one enjoys poverty, persuasion has to be abetted by coercion.
Abetted by some mob-linked union thugs, confused and emboldened by the promises and predictions of some FBI agents, and pressed evermore by his sexually manipulative wife Jessica, Thane finds that blood will have blood.
And measures enacted by the federal government permitting--and even encouraging--the summary seizure of private property through "asset forfeiture" has abetted corruption on the part of cash-starved local and state governments, many of which have adopted policies that treat police as revenue farmers.
They were assisted and abetted by the media which denounced prohibitions against "gays" giving blood as "discrimination." It is these parties who should be on trial.
Brunner, a German writer and journalist, tells us about the British aquarium mania that swept the country in the 1850s, abetted by the growth of dealers who handled the difficult task of capturing and transporting the denizens of the deep.
Shari Darling devotes her considerable experience and expertise (she is a contributor to "Food & Beverage International" magazine) to layout "breakthrough principles" of food and wine pairings in a true celebration of multicultural cuisines, abetted by easy cooking techniques and the use of fresh ingredients.
Abetted wonderfully by drawings from the artist of the macabre, Gahan Wilson, this book is a guilty pleasure, pure and simple.