Under New York law on inchoate offenses, which statement is true?

• A. Attempt merges; Solicitation and Conspiracy remain separate
• B. Attempt and Conspiracy merge; Solicitation remains separate
• C. Solicitation and Conspiracy merge; Attempt remains separate
• D. None merge; all remain separate

Answer: (A)

In New York, how inchoate offenses merge is about avoiding duplicative punishment while recognizing each offense’s separate elements. The attempt to commit a crime is treated as a step toward the target offense and, once the target crime is actually completed, the attempt merges into that completed offense—so you don’t get a separate conviction for both the attempt and the crime itself. By contrast, solicitation and conspiracy are distinct offenses with their own elements, and they do not merge with the target crime or with each other. So you can be charged with a conspiracy to commit a crime even if the crime is never completed, and you can be charged with solicitation for urging someone to commit the crime, regardless of whether the other person goes through with it. Therefore, the true statement is that an attempt merges into the underlying crime, while solicitation and conspiracy remain separate. For example, attempting to rob and actually robbing result in only the robbery conviction (no separate attempt), but conspiracy to rob and solicitation to rob remain separately punishable.