Entrapment is a legal defense that can be used in criminal cases. It occurs when a law enforcement officer improperly induces or coerces a person to commit a crime that they would not have committed under normal circumstances. There are two types of entrapment:
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Subjective entrapment: This defense focuses on whether the defendant was predisposed to commit the offense prior to the criminal act that instigated the arrest. This type of entrapment is utilized as a defense when the conduct of law enforcement (or cooperating individual/agent) is not so egregious as to violate due process laws.
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Objective entrapment: This defense focuses on whether the law enforcement officer, cooperating individual, or agent of law enforcement used egregious methods or tactics to induce a person to commit a crime. The defense needs to prove that law enforcement officers or people acting as law enforcement officers used illegitimate means to induce a person to commit a crime.
To meet the definition of entrapment, the individual accused of entrapment must be a public law enforcement official, such as a police officer, or someone who was acting as an agent of a public law enforcement official. The accused individual must have induced or made false statements to persuade the defendant to commit a crime. The preponderance of the evidence shows that the defendant would not have committed the crime if not for the agent’s inducement or coercion through harassment, fraud, threats, or other illegitimate means.
