Entrapment
An affirmative defense in which a defendant alleges that police officers acquired the evidence necessary to commence a criminal prosecution of the defendant by inducing the defendant to engage in a criminal act which the defendant would not otherwise have committed. see, e.g. Jacobson v. United States, 503 U.S. 540(1992).
Definition from Nolo’s Plain-English Law Dictionary
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.
Definition provided by Nolo’s Plain-English Law Dictionary.
August 19, 2010, 5:15 pm
