Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/22pdf/22-179_o75q.pdf
Page Number: 11.0

Cite as:  599 U. S. ____ (2023) 

7 

Opinion of the Court 

common” verbs used to denote solicitation and facilitation.  
Id., §13.2(a); see also 1 J. Ohlin, Wharton’s Criminal Law 
§10:1, p. 298 (16th ed. 2021) (Wharton) (“[A]dditional lan-
guage—such as encourage, counsel, and command—usually 
accompanies ‘aid’ or ‘abet’ ” (emphasis added)).  In fact, their 
criminal-law usage dates back hundreds of years.  See 40 
F. 4th, at 1062–1064 (opinion of Bumatay, J.).  A prominent 
early American legal dictionary, for instance, defines “abet” 
as “[t]o encourage or set another on to commit a crime.”  1 
J.  Bouvier,  Law  Dictionary  30  (1839)  (emphasis  added).  
Other  sources  agree.    See,  e.g.,  Wharton  §10:1,  at  298 
(“ ‘abet,’ ”  at  common  law,  meant  “to  encourage,  advise,  or 
instigate  the  commission  of  a  crime”  (emphasis  added)); 
Black’s Law Dictionary 6 (1st ed. 1891) (to “abet” “[i]n crim-
inal  law”  was  “[t]o  encourage,  incite,  or  set  another  on  to 
commit a crime”  (emphasis added)); cf. id., at 667 (11th ed. 
2019) (defining “encourage” with, in part, a cross-reference 
to “aid and abet”). 
  This  pattern  is  on  display  in  the  federal  criminal  code, 
which, for over a century, has punished one who “induces” 
a  crime  as  a  principal.   See  Act of Mar.  4,  1909,  §332,  35 
Stat. 1152 (“Whoever . . . aids, abets, counsels, commands, 
induces, or procures [the commission of an offense] is a prin-
cipal” (emphasis added)); 18 U. S. C. §2(a) (listing the same 
verbs  today).    The  Government  offers  other  examples  as 
well:  The  ban  on  soliciting  a  crime  of  violence  penalizes 
those who “solici[t], comman[d], induc[e], or otherwise en-
deavo[r] to persuade” another person “to engage in [the un-
lawful]  conduct.”    §373(a)  (emphasis  added).    Federal  law 
also criminalizes “persuad[ing], induc[ing], entic[ing], or co-
erc[ing]” one “to engage in prostitution” or other unlawful 
sexual  activity  involving  interstate  commerce.    §§2422(a), 
(b) (emphasis added).  The Model Penal Code echoes these 
formulations,  defining  solicitation  as,  in  relevant  part, 
“command[ing], encourag[ing] or request[ing] another per-
son to engage in specific [unlawful] conduct.”  MPC §5.02(1),