When do Criminal Lawyers Use the Entrapment Defense?

Entrapment is the term used to describe when a person is induced to commit a crime as a result of law enforcement creating a deceptive mock situation, called a sting operation, in order to charge the person and get a conviction.

Sting operations are commonly used for:

• Prostitution
• Robbery
• Drug Bust
• Gambling
• Terrorist attacks
• Sex offender registration
• Lewd and lascivious conduct
• Solicitation of minor on internet
• Receiving or distributing child pornography
• Disseminating matter harmful to minors 

Sting operations have been used for decades by police, detectives, the FBI and more and they have become very sophisticated and have a history of getting convictions.

Criminal lawyers use the entrapment defense when law enforcement has overstepped its bounds by threatening, harassing, or using excessive tactics to persuade someone into committing a crime. The entrapment defense is successful only when criminal lawyers can prove the defendant would have not have committed the crime if not only because of the sting operation. 

In the past, judges and jurors have not ruled it unlawful for law enforcement to create an opportunity for committing a crime to find someone guilty. The most important key aspect a judge and jurors examine is whether or not the defendant would have committed the crime without law enforcement if the opportunity presented itself.

Prosecutors know if a defendant has a criminal history "entrapment" is probably not going to be a good defense and it will not be accepted by jurors or the judge.  Knowing this, law enforcement uses entrapment in order to convict a person otherwise hard to catch, a person to which they have reason to believe is committing crimes but they don't have enough evidence to file charges. In these types of cases, top criminal lawyers will not use the entrapment defense, knowing it will end badly for the defendant. Rather, criminal lawyers will work with experts, investigators, and a team of other attorneys to find holes in the prosecutor's case in order to make a solid criminal defense strategy.

Criminal lawyers know that using "entrapment" can actually be the worst defense for some cases. Top criminal lawyers with lots of experience know there are much better defenses that can be used, though they require much harder work, but well worth it if it results in a win for the defendant.

Entrapment can be a great defense, when the defendant has no criminal history, has an outstanding reputation in the community and other various factors criminal lawyers take into account to show the defendant was entrapped.