Soliciting to murder means asking, urging, or trying to get someone else to kill a person, with a real intent that the killing actually happen.

Basic meaning

  • In criminal law, solicitation is when someone encourages, requests, commands, or hires another person to commit a crime.
  • When the crime requested is murder, it becomes ā€œsolicitation to commit murderā€ or ā€œsoliciting to murder.ā€

Key legal points

  • The crime focuses on the request or encouragement itself , not on whether the murder actually happens; a person can be guilty even if no one is harmed and no attempt is made.
  • There must be genuine intent that the other person commit the killing; joking or clearly non-serious comments usually do not meet this standard, though this can be argued in court.

Typical examples

  • Offering money or other benefits to someone to ā€œtake outā€ or ā€œkillā€ another person.
  • Seriously asking or pressuring someone to murder a partner, rival, or witness, even without payment.

How the law treats it

  • Many legal systems treat soliciting to murder as a serious offense, often punishable by very long prison sentences, sometimes up to life imprisonment.
  • It is usually classified as an ā€œinchoateā€ crime, meaning it punishes dangerous steps toward a serious offense before the offense itself occurs.

Important caution

  • Casual statements about violence can be misinterpreted, and in serious contexts (online or offline) they can trigger investigations or charges.
  • Anyone facing, fearing, or suspecting such a situation should speak with a qualified criminal defense lawyer or contact law enforcement if there is an immediate threat to someoneā€™s safety.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.