A criminal accomplice is a person who knowingly, voluntarily, or intentionally assists another person in the commission of a crime—or under some circumstances, a person who fails to prevent another person from committing a crime. Unlike a person who aids and abets a crime by helping with the planning of the crime but is often not present at the scene of the crime—and unlike an accessory after the fact, who is not present at the scene of the crime but assists after the commission of the crime to help the perpetrator avoid arrest or punishment—an accomplice actively participates in the commission of the crime. For example, a person who acts as a lookout or getaway driver for a bank robbery is an accomplice.

In many states the traditional distinctions between the culpability of accomplices and principals to a crime have been replaced by statute—including the felony murder rule that may make an accomplice guilty of first degree or capital murder if he was the lookout or getaway driver for a bank robbery that resulted in a death.

In North Carolina, the law does not distinguish sharply between the principal perpetrator of a crime and an accomplice; both can be charged and punished to the same extent under the state's criminal statutes. An accomplice is someone who assists, encourages, or facilitates the commission of a crime, and this can include acting as a lookout or getaway driver during the commission of a crime such as a bank robbery. North Carolina General Statutes (NCGS) § 14-5.2 states that all persons who may be convicted of the commission of a felony or misdemeanor, whether they directly commit the act constituting the offense or aid and abet in its commission, are principals in the first degree. Furthermore, under the felony murder rule in North Carolina, an accomplice can be charged with first-degree murder if a death occurs during the commission of a felony, even if the accomplice's role was as a lookout or driver and they did not directly cause the death. This is codified in NCGS § 14-17, which includes the death occurring in the perpetration or attempted perpetration of a felony as a basis for first-degree murder.