Opinion ID: 2095102
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Common Law History Lesser-Included Instructions

Text: At common law the jury was permitted to find the defendant guilty of any lesser offense necessarily included in the offense charged. [2] This practice offered the jury a choice other than a guilty verdict on the offense charged or acquittal-often described as all or nothing. It has long been recognized that jury instructions on lesser-included offenses can be beneficial to a criminal defendant by providing the jury with the `third' option of convicting on a lesser included offense [thereby] ensur[ing] that the jury will accord the defendant the full benefit of the reasonable-doubt standard. [3] A lesser-included offense instruction, however, may also be beneficial to the State. Indeed, the common law rule originally developed as an aid to the prosecution in cases in which [its evidence] failed to establish some element of the crime charged. [4] From these common law origins, the principle that one indicted for a greater offense can properly be convicted of an uncharged lesser-included offense is now well established. [5] The purpose and rationale for this almost universal practice of granting requests to give lesser-included offense instructions, when there is a rational basis in the evidence to support them, has been explained as follows: The doctrine is a valuable tool for defendant, prosecutor, and society. From a defendant's point of view, it provides the jury with an alternative to a guilty verdict on the greater offense. From the prosecutor's viewpoint, a defendant may not go free if the evidence fails to prove an element essential to a finding of guilt on the greater offense. Society may receive a benefit because, in the latter situation, courts may release fewer defendants acquitted of the greater offense. In addition, the punishment society inflicts on a criminal may conform more accurately to the crime actually committed if a verdict on a lesser included offense is permissible. [6]