Entrapment is either an illegal or a legal procedure that can lead to mistrials, overturning of verdicts,
and so forth. Officers are notorious for setting up traps to lure alleged criminals into confessing or
making mistakes that lead to their arrest.
For example, in a small town, a drug task force is setup where undercover officers frequent bars to
monitor the crowd while acting like a customer in the establishment. What the officers are really
doing is gathering information, witnesses, and other evidence that will lead to the arrest of a local
drug dealer. Officers also use entrapment procedures to lure in pedophiles over the Internet.
When does entrapment become illegal? This is one of the main questions asked pertaining to
entrapment-and the answer is surprisingly simple. If an officer lures an ordinary citizen into
committing a crime that this person would not have otherwise committed, then this is a legal act of
entrapment, which transfers the blame to the officer, who has committed the act of "manufacturing a
crime where none would otherwise exist."
Then what is legal entrapment? Legal entrapment must include that the perpetrator has prior record
of committing the same or similar crimes that will lead the officer to believe that the suspect has
shown probable cause of the crime in action. The perpetrator must have a history of committing
similar/same or else relevant crimes of nature. Thus, the suspect must show probable cause that
he/she is mentally capable of committing and is probably contemplating or acting out the crime in
question.
As you can see, entrapment is a tricky legal situation, which is why it is important to know what
your rights are if you have been tricked into committing a crime that you normally would not have
normally be involved in.
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