Reference no: EM131713243

You are a judge hearing a case involving an attempted breaking and entering. During a snowstorm two teenagers, who were walking home from school, tried to break into an abandoned home to seek shelter and wait for the storm to pass before finishing their walk home. A police officer, who was just leaving a service call up the street, saw the boys approach the house.

The officer saw one start to push the other through a window they had opened. Just before they were arrested, and without knowing they were about to be arrested, the boys changed their minds and walked away from the house, trying to go home. The teenagers were not aware of the officer's presence until he arrested them as they started walking away from the house.

The arresting officer testified that the he has had prior experience with these teenagers, whom he described as "...troublemakers who should be punished." The teenagers testified that they changed their minds before entering the house and that even if they had gone in they were justified because of the cold, stormy weather. We will look at the necessity defense in another chapter.

You must decide:

1. Are they guilty of attempted breaking and entering?

2. Why?

Answer as if you were a judge in a common law jurisdiction, then answer as if you were a judge in a Model Penal Code jurisdiction.