Law Commons^™

Elevation Of Entrapment To A Constitutional Defense, Robert H. Thomson Iii

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

The issue of entrapment arises initially as a defense when a person is accused of committing a criminal act in which government agents solicited, and perhaps actively participated in, the conduct for which the defendant stands accused. Classic entrapment situations occur when law enforcement officers, through agents or informers, solicit an illegal transaction, such as the sale of contraband. The evidence thereby obtained is used to support the prosecution of the individual accepting the solicitation. Solicitation is an important technique of law enforcement because evidence of illegal transactions is often impossible to obtain by other methods. Certain uses of solicitation …