Curious about a USA legal term

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

Entrapment. Actually I know WHAT it is, it's just that whenever some instance of it appears, lots of people (mostly from the Punishist Posse) jump from the bushes to scream "THIS IS NOT ENTRAPMENT! YOU CRIMINAL LOVER!" or something similar.

So, my question is: what exactly IS entrapment, and could someone narrate a scenario that would actually BE entrapment?

[Sammy Pepys]

1. Entrapment

Being persuaded by law enforcement to commit a crime wihtout premeditation on your part.

[benburch]

2. Suppose I come to you and ask you to sell me drugs.

Now, you don't sell drugs, and never considered selling drugs, but maybe you have an idea of where they could be had.

I beg and plead with you to please get me some drugs, and finally, you relent. You go out on the street, score some drugs, and then I arrest you when you deliver them to me.

That is entrapment - when you are arrested for a criminal act you were coerced into committing.

BTW, do you ever keep your Skype on any more? I never see you online.

[merh]

3. Here's some reading material that might help.

Entrapment is the inducement or encouragement of an individual to engage in criminal activity in which he or she would otherwise not be disposed to engage.
http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/eousa/foia_reading_room/usam/title9/crm01905.htm

Entrapment occurs only when the criminal conduct was "the product of the creative activity" of law-enforcement officials. (Emphasis supplied.) See 287 U.S., at 441 , 451. To determine whether entrapment has been established, a line must be drawn between the trap for the unwary innocent and the trap for the unwary criminal. The principles <356 U.S. 369, 373> by which the courts are to make this determination were outlined in Sorrells. On the one hand, at trial the accused may examine the conduct of the government agent; and on the other hand, the accused will be subjected to an "appropriate and searching inquiry into his own conduct and predisposition" as bearing on his claim of innocence. See 287 U.S., at 451 .
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=356&invol=369

[Sammy Pepys]

4. Guess I should give a scenario

Let's take an undercover cop posing as a prostitute:

IF the cop just hangs out on the corner, and you come up and solicit a sex act (usually involves telling her what you want and offering a specific amount of money for it), that's not entrapment...you were clearly intending to break the law without much prodding from the cop.

BUT, if that same cop came up to you and said "Hey wanna #$%^&*^? I'll do it for $20..." while you were minding your own business, that might just qualify.

[happyslug]

5. Entrapment is when someone is tricked into breaking the law.

But it is NOT entrapment to suggest to a person a Criminal act when they have a pre-disposition to do the crime anyway. Thus it is NOT entrapment to ask a bank robber to help you rob a bank (when the police are asking for the "assistance") when it is known to all parties that bank robbery is illegal.

On the other hand it is entrapment when a Police Officer tells someone to rob a bank, when the Police Officer is acting AS A POLICE OFFICER and as a Police Officer say you can get away with the crime.

This is the difference based ont he Criminals "Disposition". Would he have NOT done the crime if a Police officer had not told him to do so? If the Jury finds that the Criminal would NOT have done the crime except for the Officer's suggestion than he was entrapped, but if the Criminal would have done the crime ANYWAY, then it is NOT entrapment.

[OneBlueSky]

6. entrapment is what is known as an affirmative defense . . .

if you're charged with a crime and believe you were entrapped, it's up to you to prove it . . . when pursuing an affirmative defense, the burden of proof shifts from the state to the accused . . .