Conspiracy is one of the four "punishable acts" of genocide, in addition to the crime of genocide itself, declared punishable in Article III of the 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. The other three acts are direct and public incitement, attempt, and complicity. Subsequent instruments of international criminal law, such as the statutes of the ad hoc tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, have maintained this distinction between genocide itself and the four other punishable acts. The distinction reflects similar provisions in many domestic criminal law codes that define a crime, such as murder or rape, and then set out various forms by which an individual may participate in the crime other than as the primary or principal perpetrator.

The word conspiracy is derived from Latin and means, literally, to breathe together. By its very nature, therefore, conspiracy is...