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In many states the traditional distinctions between the culpability of accomplices and principals to a crime have been replaced by statute—including the felony murder rule that may make an accomplice guilty of first degree or capital murder if he was the lookout or getaway driver for a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 Virginia, the law does not distinguish sharply between principals (those who actually commit a crime) and accomplices (those who assist in the commission of a crime). Under Virginia law, an accomplice is considered as guilty as the person who directly commits the offense. This means that someone acting as a lookout or getaway driver during a bank robbery can be charged with the same offenses as the person who physically carries out the robbery. Virginia Code § 18.2-18 states that an accomplice to a felony is equally culpable as the principal in the first degree. Furthermore, under the felony murder rule, as outlined in Virginia Code § 18.2-33, if a killing occurs during the commission of certain felonies, such as robbery, all participants in the felony can be charged with felony murder, regardless of their role in the actual act of killing. This can result in a charge of first-degree or even capital murder for an accomplice if a death occurs during the commission of a felony like a bank robbery.