Legal Definition and Related Resources of Entrapment

The act of an agent provocateur, in inducing a person to commit a crime which that person had not contemplated committing, for the purpose of instituting criminal prosecution against him. where the state merely provides the accused the opportunity to commit the offense it is not entrapment. See U.S. v Swets, (C.C.A. Colo.) 563 F.2d 989. In the law of evidence , it means surprise on the part of the party who is voluntarily calling the witness if such party can show that he has been entrapped by the witness by reason of a prior contradictory statement .

Browse or run a search for Entrapment in the American Encyclopedia of Law, the Asian Encyclopedia of Law, the European Encyclopedia of Law, the UK Encyclopedia of Law or the Latin American and Spanish Encyclopedia of Law.

Entrapment in Historical Law

You might be interested in the historical meaning of this term. Browse or search for Entrapment in Historical Law in the Encyclopedia of Law.

Search for legal acronyms and/or abbreviations containing Entrapment in the Legal Abbreviations and Acronyms Dictionary.

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See also

In criminal law, an affirmative defense that excuses a defendant from criminal… (Read more)

Entrapment in the law of the United States

Entrapment: Related U.S. Resources

• Entrapment in the American Law Encyclopedia
• Criminal Judicial Process Keywords in the U.S. Legal Corpus
• Criminal Process Topics in the United States Legal Dictionary

See Also

Affirmative Defense (in the U.S. Legal Encyclopedia).

Entrapment in Law Enforcement

Main Entry: Law Enforcement in the Legal Dictionary. This section provides, in the context of Law Enforcement, a partial definition of entrapment.

Resources

See Also

• Law Enforcement Officer
• Policeman
• Law Enforcement Agency

Further Reading

• entrapment in A Dictionary of Law Enforcement (Oxford University Press)
• entrapment in the Encyclopedia of Law Enforcement
• A Treatise on the Police of the Metropolis

English Legal System: Entrapment

In the context of the English law, A Dictionary of Law provides the following legal concept of Entrapment :

Deliberately trapping a person into committing a crime in order to secure his conviction, as by offering to buy drugs. English courts do not recognize a defence of entrapment as such, since the defendant is still considered to have a free choice in his acts. Under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, entrapment may be a reason for making certain evidence inadmissible on the ground that the admission of the evidence would have such an adverse effect on the fairness of the proceedings that the court ought not to admit it. The question of the admissibility of evidence obtained through entrapment is in some doubt as a consequence of the cases now being decided under the Human Rights Act 1998. Entrapment may also be used as a reason for mitigating a sentence.

See also agent provocateur.

Meaning of Entrapment in the U.S. Legal System

Definition of Entrapment published by the National Association for Court Management: A defense to criminal charges alleging that agents of the government induced a person to commit a crime he or she otherwise would not have committed.

Entrapment (Criminal Judicial Process)

Entrapment