the.com/entrapment
When the cops' idea came before the crime did.
means A legal defense claiming law enforcement induced someone to commit a crime they wouldn't otherwise have committed.
from Traces to the verb 'entrap,' built from 'en-' (to put into) plus 'trap' — the same 'trap' used for catching animals since Old English 'træppe.' The legal sense sharpened in the 20th century as courts began distinguishing between police merely offering opportunity and police manufacturing criminal intent from scratch.
- legal test
- Would an innocent person have done it
- not a defense
- If you were already willing to commit it
- classic trap
- Undercover offers you cannot refuse
- burden
- Defendant must prove inducement, not just opportunity