A person incurs inchoate criminal liability when he incites another person or otherpersons to commit a crime. The most salient characteristic of incitement, in comparison withthe other forms of inchoate crime, is the existence of a communication that is made with aview to persuading the addressee(s) to commit an offence. This article explores the questionof why incitement should incur criminal liability, and the nature of such liability. It alsoidentifies its distinctive features. The principal focus here is on ambiguity in the putativewords of incitement and on questions of gauging whether the words have had any effect onthe actions of the addressee(s). It covers both the standard criminal offences and conductwhich, arguably, should not be regulated by the criminal law, thereby raising issues offreedom of speech. Legal issues are set in the context of the common law generally, whiledrawing (for the most part) on English law in matters of detail.

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• Incitement: A Study in Language Crime