Entrapment, What A Show!

Entrapment, What A Show!


The police set up a car to be stolen. I saw it and I couldn't resist. I stole it. They arrested me right on the spot. I was entrapped. Is this a defense? I feel I was entrapped. The way I am being treated is like an inquisition, what a show!

If you were previously thinking about stealing the car, it is not entrapment. If you were not previously thinking about stealing the car, the conduct of the police is entrapment.

The definition of entrapment is when the cops induce a person who is not likely to commit a crime into committing the crime.   Your case is a close one because how on earth would you have been induced into stealing a car. Most people would think, "hey, that car isn't mine." They would keep walking. Most people who see a running car with a wide open door with no occupant would not suddenly jump in and drive away. I think it will be hard to show that this was something in which you were induced to participate.

Let me give you another example that is a bit more text book. Prostitution. I man is a at a very high class bar, on a business trip, minding his own business when a very attractive woman starts talking to him out of the blue. She starts to come on to him and invites him up to her room. As he stands up from the bar and begins to follow her to elevators she tells him that she is a prostitute and gets paid to have gentlemen go upstairs with her.

He tells her no thank you that he is not interested--he is not that kind of fellow. She whispers something in his ear that convinces him he would be very happy with the purchase. He hesitantly agrees to accompany her upstairs for a small fee. The back up cops storm out and arrest him. This is entrapment.




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