Reply #140: It's not entrapment. [View All]

[Marie26]

I am a lawyer. The legal definition of entrapment is very narrow. For "entrapment," the defendant must prove more than that police invited or instigated defendant into criminal conduct; he must also show that he would not have committed the offense but for their misrepresentation.

So, to prove entrapment, Defendants have to show that they were somehow pressured or threatened by the police into commiting a crime that they would not have otherwise committed. If they would've done the crime anyway, of their own accord, there's no defense. It isn't entrapment if the police simply offer the defendant the opportunity to commit a crime. For example, police can set up a sting to pretend to sell drugs. If someone walks up & offers to buy drugs, they can be arrested. The only way it would be entrapment is if a person actually decided not to buy drugs, but then was pressured or persuaded by the police officer into commiting the crime. It's a very narrow defense, and hardly ever really works.