Accomplice liability is a typical case in modern juridic practice, and there are several defenses to this crime. As Lopez (2018) states, most common law jurisdictions attribute the acts of the principal criminal to the accomplice. Therefore, any law jurisdiction needs to develop the proper defenses and apply them to corresponding cases. According to Wharton (2019), these defenses can be categorized into three groups: the negation of liability, excuses and justifications, and defenses under public international law. For instance, a defense of negation of liability could be an error of fact (Wharton, 2019). Suppose a bank was robbed, and a visitor of that bank went after the robber to disable them, but it looked like they were trying to assist the robber. Then, this visitor is charged with the crime of accomplice liability, though, in fact, they do not have anything in common with the robber and are not their accomplice. In this case, the appropriate defense to the crime would be an error of fact.
However, there are cases in which an accomplice’s guilt is not imputed by mistake. For example, one of the defenses of excuses and justifications is duress or coercion (Wharton, 2019). Suppose a criminal intends to rob a bank, but they cannot enter the facility without assistance from the inside. They make the bank worker help them by threatening their family. The bank worker has no choice rather than do what they are asked for to protect their loved ones, so they let the robber into the bank and allow them to take the money. Technically, it is a criminal act but not a voluntary one. In this case, the appropriate defense to the crime would be duress or coercion.
References
Lopez, R. (2018). The duty to refrain: A theory of state accomplice liability for grave crimes. Neb. L. Rev., 97(1), 121-167.
Wharton, S. (2019). Defences to criminal liability. In C. Jalloh, K. Clarke, & V. Nmehielle (Eds.), The African Court of Justice and Human and Peoples’ Rights in Context: Development and Challenges (pp. 866-924). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.