Study for the MBE Critical Pass Test. Enhance your knowledge with flashcards and multiple choice questions. Prepare thoroughly for your exam with detailed hints and explanations.

Multiple Choice

What is the entrapment defense?

Entrapment focuses on how the crime came about, not just the act itself. The defense applies when law enforcement induces or persuades a person to commit a crime they would not have otherwise decided to commit, and the person had no predisposition to commit that offense. In other words, the government’s role was to create the opportunity and pressure, and the defendant was not inclined to break the law on their own. That’s why the best answer says the defense rests on government inducement to commit a crime and lack of predisposition to commit the offense. If the defendant was already predisposed to commit the crime, or if the government merely provided an opportunity without inducing the crime beyond ordinary temptation, entrapment isn’t established. The other ideas don’t fit: entrapment isn’t about the crime being committed with no intent, and self-defense has a different basis altogether.

Entrapment focuses on how the crime came about, not just the act itself. The defense applies when law enforcement induces or persuades a person to commit a crime they would not have otherwise decided to commit, and the person had no predisposition to commit that offense. In other words, the government’s role was to create the opportunity and pressure, and the defendant was not inclined to break the law on their own.

That’s why the best answer says the defense rests on government inducement to commit a crime and lack of predisposition to commit the offense. If the defendant was already predisposed to commit the crime, or if the government merely provided an opportunity without inducing the crime beyond ordinary temptation, entrapment isn’t established.

The other ideas don’t fit: entrapment isn’t about the crime being committed with no intent, and self-defense has a different basis altogether.