Pinkerton Rule Law and Legal Definition
The pinkerton rule is a judicially created doctrine that imposes liability on a conspirator for all crime or offenses committed in furtherance of the conspiracy, the rule imposes liability on the conspirator even if those offenses are actually performed by co-conspirators. [Pinkerton v. United States, 328 U.S. 640, 66 S.Ct 1180 (1946). This rule relating to criminal liability was pronounced in the case of Pinkerton v. United States.
The pinkerton doctrine makes a conspirator criminally liable for the substantive offenses committed by a co-conspirator when they are reasonably foreseeable and committed in furtherance of the conspiracy. [United States v. Long, 301 F.3d 1095 (9th Cir. Cal. 2002)].
