accomplice, in law, a person who becomes equally guilty in the crime of another by knowingly and voluntarily aiding the other to commit the offense. An accomplice is either an accessory or an abettor. The accessory aids a criminal prior to the crime, whereas the abettor aids the offender during the crime itself.
An abettor is someone who is present actually or constructively at the commission of a crime and incites, encourages, or assists the offender. Failing to try to prevent the offense, when a duty to act is imposed by law, is also considered to be abetment.
An accessory is someone who is not present during the commission of the offense but who assists, procures, encourages, or counsels the offender before the crime has been committed. In most jurisdictions the accessory must perform an act of assistance, and evidence of intention to facilitate the crime must be presented. Thus, owners of sporting-goods stores are not accessories to murder if they sell a rifle to someone who subsequently commits murder with it.
The terms accessory and abettor derive from the English common law, which distinguished between accomplices and principals in assessing guilt for crime. (An abettor was also known in the common law as a principal in the second degree.) Modern statutes abolish these differences and consider all accomplices as principals. It is no longer necessary to prove which kind of an accomplice a person is or to find the principal guilty before the accomplice can be convicted. Once a crime has been committed and a party is shown to have contributed to its commission, that person may be punished as a principal.
An accessory after the fact is often not considered an accomplice but is treated as a separate offender. Such an offender is one who harbours, protects, or assists a person who has already committed an offense or is charged with committing an offense. Usually the offense must be a felony. Punishment for an accessory after the fact is universally less than that for the principal offender, except in cases of sedition or treason. See also solicitation.