- entrapment
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en·trap·ment n1: the action or process of entrappingentrapment is un-American and has no place in law enforcement — Tip O'Neill2: the state or condition of being entrapped; also: the affirmative defense of having been entrapped by a government agent (as an officer or informant) see also predispose◇ Entrapment is available as a defense only when an agent of the state or federal government has provided the encouragement or inducement. This defense is sometimes allowed in administrative proceedings (as for the revocation of a license to practice medicine) as well as criminal proceedings. In order to establish entrapment, the defendant has the burden of proving either that he or she would not have committed the crime but for the undue persuasion or fraud of the government agent, or that the encouragement was such that it created a risk that persons not inclined to commit the crime would commit it, depending on the jurisdiction. When entrapment is pleaded, evidence (as character evidence) regarding the defendant that might otherwise have been excluded is allowed to be admitted.
Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of Law. Merriam-Webster. 1996.
- entrapment
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encouraging a person to commit an offence to establish a prosecution. It is not a defence in English or Scots criminal law. However, the authorities should not commit crimes to trap the criminals: R v . Sang [1980] AC 402.In the USA there has long been established a defence of entrapment where undercover police positively promote a crime that would not otherwise have occurred: Sorells v . US 287 US 435; Sherman v . US 356 US 369. The defence will not, however, be competent where policeman have merely joined an illegal practice – for example, seeking to be supplied with heroin while in the company of drug addicts with the same purpose.
Collins dictionary of law. W. J. Stewart. 2001.
- entrapment
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An act by the police or their agents, such as informants, to induce a person to commit a crime for the purpose of prosecuting that person for that induced crime. If the judge or jury believes that the person was predisposed to commit the crime anyway, even when the government agent suggested the crime or even helped with its commission, they are unlikely to accept an entrapment defense. Entrapment defenses are difficult to mount for defendants with prior convictions.Category: Criminal LawCategory: Small Claims Court & Lawsuits
Nolo’s Plain-English Law Dictionary. Gerald N. Hill, Kathleen Thompson Hill. 2009.
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n. Of law enforcement, the act of leading or guiding a suspect into committing a criminal act the suspect otherwise would not have committed.
Webster's New World Law Dictionary. Susan Ellis Wild. 2000.
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The act of government agents or officials that induces a person to commit a crime he or she is not previously disposed to commit.
Dictionary from West's Encyclopedia of American Law. 2005.
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I
The act of government agents or officials that induces a person to commit a crime he or she is not previously disposed to commit.II The act of inducing a person to commit a crime so that a criminal charge will be brought against him.
Short Dictionary of (mostly American) Legal Terms and Abbreviations.
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n.in criminal law, the act of law enforcement officers or government agents inducing or encouraging a person to commit a crime when the potential criminal expresses a desire not to go ahead. The key to entrapment is whether the idea for the commission or encouragement of the criminal act originated with the police or government agents instead of with the "criminal." Entrapment, if proved, is a defense to a criminal prosecution. The accused often claims entrapment in so-called "stings" in which undercover agents buy or sell narcotics, prostitutes' services or arrange to purchase goods believed to be stolen. The factual question is: Would Johnny Begood have purchased the drugs if not pressed by the narc?
Law dictionary. EdwART. 2013.
