It does matter what you do. Criminal law recognizes two elements to a crime: mens rea ("guilty mind") and actus reus ("guilty act") http://law.jrank.org/pages

It does matter what you do. Criminal law recognizes two elements to a crime: mens rea ("guilty mind") and actus reus ("guilty act") http://law.jrank.org/pages/22506/Criminal-Law-Elements-Crime-Mens-Rea-Actus-Reus.html http://law.jrank.org/pages/22506/Criminal-Law-Elements-Crime... If there's no actus reus in your example, then there's no crime.