Conspiracy
Conspiracy, an agreement by two or more persons (or groups of persons) to do something that is unlawful or to carry out by unlawful means an act that in itself is legal. (An example of the second kind would be an agreement by manufacturers to raise prices; raising prices is not illegal, but the agreement would be a violation of the antitrust laws.) Under federal law and the laws of many states of the United States it must be proved that at least one act furthering the thing planned was committed by at least one conspirator. All conspirators are then considered equally guilty of that act. Conspiracy is a crime and persons charged with it are tried before a jury.
Many legal scholars consider the definition of conspiracy to be so broad that a defendant may be unfairly convicted. In some states the prosecutor need only convince the jury that the defendants had agreed to commit a crime. For a finding of guilt in federal trials, juries need only believe that some act, possibly quite legal in itself, advanced the conspiracy plans, or that a defendant actually had conspired with a person who committed such an act.
Several conspiracy trials drew wide public attention in the 1960's and 1970's. In the trial of the "Chicago Seven," the defendants were charged with conspiring to incite a riot at the Democratic National Convention of 1968. All were acquitted of the conspiracy charges. The case of the "Harrisburg Seven," accused of conspiring to kidnap Presidential adviser Henry Kissinger, ended in a mistrial in 1972.