entrapment
Noun 1. A legal defense: The act of being caught or the state of being caught in a trap. In law, it specifically refers to a situation where a person is induced or tricked by law enforcement officials into committing a crime they would not otherwise have committed, in order to prosecute them for it.
Entrapment is used primarily in legal contexts. It describes the method used by authorities and the resulting situation for the defendant. - The defense attorney argued for dismissal of the charges on the grounds of entrapment. - The court must decide if the police conduct constituted entrapment.
- The undercover operation was criticized for its potential for entrapment.
- He claimed entrapment, stating the agent repeatedly pressured him to sell the drugs.
- Proving entrapment requires showing a lack of predisposition to commit the crime.
- Doctrine of Entrapment: The legal principle that prohibits law enforcement from originating a criminal design and implanting it in an innocent person's mind.
- The judge instructed the jury on the doctrine of entrapment.
- Entrapment Defense: The formal legal argument claiming entrapment.
- The defendant's entire case rested on an entrapment defense.
- Entrap (verb): To catch in or as if in a trap; to lure into a compromising statement or act.
- The agent sought to entrap the suspect into a confession.
- Entrapper (noun): One who entraps.
- Ensnairement (less common, more general)
- Framing (colloquial, but implies setting someone up with false evidence, which is distinct from entrapment)
- Decoying
The core meaning involves being caught by trickery. The specific legal meaning is a narrow, technical application of this general concept. It is not a defense if the person was already willing to commit the crime; the trickery must have created the criminal intent.
- a defense that claims the defendant would not have broken the law if not tricked into doing it by law enforcement officials