Text 28782, 49 rader
Skriven 2009-03-09 15:06:36 av Robert Bashe (2:2448/44)
  Kommentar till text 28770 av Dale Shipp (1:261/1466.0)
Ärende: Entrapment
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Dale Shipp wrote to Robert Bashe on Sunday March 08 2009 at 23:33:

RB>> Good question. Entrapment is - at least in some cases - legal in the
RB>> States and the evidence gained valid in court.

DS> Entrapment is not legal in the states, and any evidence gained by it
DS> would not be valid in court.  However, there is a fine line between
DS> entrapment (which is illegal) and setting up a sting situation whereby
DS> a person who is predisposed to commit a crime can do so and then get
DS> caught and prosecuted.

DS> Here is the definition of Entrapment from WIKI.  I think it states it
DS> fairly well. Entrapment is the act of a law enforcement agent inducing
DS> a person to commit an offense which the person would otherwise have
DS> been unlikely to commit.

Sorry, Dale, but that's a rubber paragraph. What does "unlikely" mean? Yes or
no? And "otherwise"? In what way "otherwise"?

In such a case, I woulkd think the first thing that would have to be cleared up
is the definition of "unlikely", since the whole "entrapment" business depends
on that. Whether you call it a "sting" or "entrapment" would largely appear to
be a matter of the viewpoint to me, and I'd hate to the judge (or a member of
the jury) trying to judge such a case.

Whatever the word, I think this is something that gets into very esoteric legal
territory.

RB>> The question would be whether entrapment itself is illegal (in the
RB>> Netherlands or elsewhere), or whether the evidence gained in that
RB>> manner is merely unadmissible in court. I would normally assume the
RB>> latter, but that may differ from country to country.

DS> All this has been discussed to death. It does not help that some call
DS> it entrapment when it is not.

The problem is simply that the legal definition (if that's what you cited
above) is not necessarily obvious or understandable to a legal layperson. It's
a little like manslaughter and (non-premeditated) murder: whether it's one or
the other, the victim is still dead. Now decide on the punishment.

Incidently, I wasn't referring to Michiel's permanent gripe - as far as I'm
concerned that was a cut and dry case. But was it a "sting" or "entrapment"
<beg>?

Cheers, Bob

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