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Common purpose (law)

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Common purpose (law) could use some help. Please research the article's assertions. Whatever is credible should be sourced, and what is not should be removed.

It's the
Law
Icon law.svg
To punish
and protect

Common purpose is a legal doctrine stating that all participants in a crime are responsible for its consequences, even if it wasn't the original intention. For example, if a gang of criminals agrees to rob a building by knocking out the security guard, they are all deemed guilty of murder if the knocker-out kills the guard. One of the more notorious uses of common purpose was the trial of the Sharpeville six, a group of protesters in Apartheid-era South Africa sentenced to death when the mob they were part of murdered a local politician.