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F 2.23.1 n1 “Engaged In” vs. “Committed.”
The term “engaged in” fails to require specific commission of the necessary act. The term “engage” means “to participate or cause to participate, involve.” To “participate” means to “take part, join or share with others.” (The American Heritage Dictionary (2nd ed. 1983) pp. 140, 245, 500.) Thus, the term “engages in” does not always convey to the jury that the defendant must have actually committed the act. This was implicitly recognized by the CALJIC Committee when it replaced the term “engages” with “commits” in many of its instructions in 1997. (See FORECITE’s Summary of CALJIC 6th Edition (1997) Revisions.”) Accordingly, the term “engaged in” in the above referenced CJ instruction should also be changed to “committed.”