Psychology, Factfinding, and Entrapment Kevin A. Smith University of Michigan Law School Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr Part of the Criminal Procedure Commons, Law and Psychology Commons, and the Law Enforcement and Corrections Commons Recommended Citation Kevin A. Smith, Psychology, Factfinding, and Entrapment, 103 MICH. L. REV. Entrapment law is a leash intended to curb outrageous conduct by police officers and other public officials. Entrapment is a defense to criminal charges on the basis that the defendant only committed the crime because of harassment or coercion by a government official. Suppose the police threaten to gravely injure an average, law-abiding citizen unless he delivers a package of drugs to another person, collects payment, and brings the money back to the police. The doctrine relies in part on the notion that certain police tactics "leave no room for the formation of independent criminal …
The mere presentation of an opportunity or request by an officer that an individual commit a crime does not qualify as entrapment. Here are some scenarios that suggest a finding of entrapment--or not. In a state that employs an objective test of entrapment, a conclusion that entrapment took place results in a not guilty verdict. 759 (2005).
For example, in the scenario involving Jim and Snitch, assume that Snitch is a private person and not an undercover government agent. Entrapment. Thus, defendants have the burden of convincing jurors "by a preponderance of the evidence" that government agents' actions rose to the level of entrapment.
Courts use one of two tests when deciding whether a defendant was entrapped: 1.
Entrapment is not a crime, but is a defense to a criminal charge.
The main authority on entrapment in the United Kingdom is the decision of the House of Lords in R. v. Loosely (2001). Entrapment usually involves uncover police officers in drug deal crimes.
state officers, federal officers, and public officials).
The Supreme Court of Canada is shown in Ottawa on Thursday, May 16, 2019.
But paedophile hunting goes further than many other forms of citizen-led policing.
… Further, the entrapment defense is only available where the entrapment was committed by either a law enforcement officer or someone working in cooperation with a law enforcement officer. In deciding whether to grant a stay, the Court will consider, as a useful guide, whether the police did more than present the defendant with an unexceptional opportunity to commit a crime. However, if the private citizen is acting at the direction of an undercover police officer, then you may be a victim of entrapment. Entrapment is a defense to criminal charges on the basis that the defendant only committed the crime because of harassment or coercion by a government official. Without such coercion, the crime would never have been committed. But entrapment can be a serious, real defense to criminal charges where a police officer or other government agent has induced a citizen to commit a crime.
Entrapment may involve pressuring an individual to commit certain acts through harassment, threat, repeated pressure, or fraud. Entrapment is a defense to criminal charges, through which a defendant alleges that a police officer or somebody working as an agent of a police or government agency (a government agent) improperly induced the defendant into committing a crime and that, but for the inducement, the defendant would not have committed the crime.
Entrapment. Entrapment is an affirmative defense.
3. Entrapment is a defense to criminal charges when it is established that the agent or official originated the idea of the crime and induced the accused to engage in it. Entrapment is not a formal defence in law, but rather it is a procedural disentitlement to convict on the basis of abuse of process and fairness. Story continues below. This …
Forms of Entrapment The concept of entrapment generally brings to mind complex schemes, undercover police work, and plot-twists worthy of a Hollywood movie.