Entrapment
Definition
A legal defence arguing that law enforcement induced the defendant to commit an offence they would not otherwise have committed. In online investigations, it turns partly on who introduced and escalated the sexual content in the conversation.
- Type
- Legal defence, not a forensic finding
- Focus
- Who introduced and escalated the offending content
- Applies in
- Online grooming and undercover sting cases
Common questions
What role does a forensic linguist play in an entrapment defence?+
The linguist analyses the transcript turn by turn to establish who first raised sexual topics, who escalated them, and whether the suspect's responses show pre-existing predisposition, evidence that speaks directly to whether inducement occurred.
Does entrapment mean no crime occurred?+
No. It is a defence about how the offence came about, arguing the state induced conduct the defendant would not otherwise have committed; it does not dispute that the conduct itself took place.
Related terms
- Conversation Analysis
- The systematic study of the sequential structure of talk : how turns are allocated, how topics are initiated and responded to, and...
- Desensitisation
- A staged reduction of the target's resistance to sexual topics or contact, achieved in grooming through gradual introduction of sexual content, normalisation...
- Illocutionary Act
- The social action performed by an utterance : requesting, threatening, promising, warning : distinct from its literal propositional content. Grooming discourse often...
- Online Grooming
- A process by which an offender builds trust and emotional connection with a child (and sometimes the child's family) with the intention...
- Secrecy Enforcement
- Linguistic strategies used by the groomer to prevent disclosure by the child: framing the relationship as a special secret, warning of consequences...