will deal with at least once a lot of people don't know very much about it

here are a few basic concepts that might help but beware though

this isn't legal advice just a general explanation

let's start with the two most basic elements of a crime: 1st "mens rea"

now mens rea is not, as it sounds, some sort of mainly death ray

"mens rea" is Latin for "guilty mind." to commit a crime you have to have a

particular state of mind when you act. obvious right? let's use an example

if you commit a criminal act like bank robbery but you're sleepwalking then you didn't act

with a guilty mind and so you didn't commit a crime you have to act with a

guilty mind at the exact time of the criminal act so if you decided to murder

someone but on your way there you're not paying attention

and you hit them with your car

that's not murder because even though you had a bad act and a guilty mind you

didn't have the guilty mind when you did the bad act

you were thinking about something else

"actus reus" is just a fancy word for a "criminal act." you can't commit a crime

without action but even if you want to commit a crime

you may not actually be successful

this is called an attempt. an attempt is a special crime

that requires two things be present

1st the guilty mind or the intent to commit a crime, 2nd an act

something significant enough that the attempter is showing they really want to

commit the crime but is not actually committing the entire crime

the world is full of criminals who didn't quite pull it off for all kinds of reasons

the difference in the criminal act is the important part

if you committed the whole act it wouldn't be attempted robbery it would just be robbery

for example grabbing a purse but not actually taking it would be a big

enough act to be an attempt but touching a purse in passing

while you think about possibly grabbing it

would not be enough even though you were thinking about it so it's important not

to jump the gun on stopping an attempt having the intent is still important you

can't commit an attempt because you're being reckless or not paying attention

even if you could commit the underlying crime that way

so while you can recklessly commit manslaughter

you can't recklessly attempt manslaughter

you can't recklessly attempt to commit any crime for that matter

it might be another crime but not attempt because you have to intend to

commit a crime for an attempt to take place

and there you have it