Entrapment

For the film, see Entrapment (film).

Entrapment is a practice in which a law enforcement agent or an agent of the state induces a person to commit a crime that the person would have otherwise been unlikely or unwilling to commit.[1] In US law, it is defined as "the conception and planning of an offense by an officer or agent, and the procurement of its commission by one who would not have perpetrated it except for the trickery, persuasion or fraud of the officer or state agent".[2]

Police conduct rising to the level of entrapment is broadly discouraged and thus, in many jurisdictions, is available as a defense against criminal liability. Sting operations, through which police officers or agents engage in deception to try to catch persons who are committing crimes, raise concerns about possible entrapment.[3]

Depending on the law in the jurisdiction, the prosecution may be required to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was not entrapped or the defendant may be required to prove that they were entrapped as an affirmative defense.

In the practice of journalism and whistle-blowing entrapment means "deceptive and trust-breaking techniques ... applied to trick someone to commit a legal or moral transgression."[4][5]

  1. ^ Sloane (1990) 49 A Crim R 270. See also agent provocateur
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Sorrells was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Missouri Law Review, Volume 70, Issue 2, Spring 2005: Sting Operations, Undercover Agents and Entrapment: by Bruce Hay http://scholarship.law.missouri.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3652&context=mlr
  4. ^ Kampf, Zohar (17 April 2019). "To bark or to bite? Journalism and entrapment". Routledge Companion to Media and Scandal. Routledge Handbooks Online. pp. 245–253. doi:10.4324/9781351173001-25. ISBN 978-0-8153-8759-6. S2CID 191717797.
  5. ^ Liebes, Tamar; Blum-Kulka, Shoshana (May 2004). "It Takes Two to Blow the Whistle: Do Journalists Control the Outbreak of Scandal?". American Behavioral Scientist. 47 (9): 1153–1170. doi:10.1177/0002764203262341. ISSN 0002-7642. S2CID 143852103.