Stephens (2019) maintains that l ying by a police officer during an arrest or interrogation is a typical strategy used by a law enforcement personnel to deceive someone into admitting wrongdoing or crime. Lying by a police officer is legal and helps in handling challenging interrogation or investigations. On the other hand, police entrapment is the case where a law enforcement agent induces or coerces someone to commit a crime. According to French (2018) entrapment entails the use of bearing strategies to encourage a person to commit a crime. However, French (2018) notes that courts do resist entrapment or temptation to commit a crime. Lying and entrapment differ significantly with lying used by a police officer to lead someone to a confession while entrapment occurs before a crime and is a strategy to lure someone to commit a crime. Entrapment is often discouraged by judges, and one can plead not guilty to an offense if they deem they were entrapped. For example, Becky was accused of selling illegal substances to an undercover law enforcement agent. Becky accounts that the drugs were for her personal use. For over two months, the secret police officer visited her and requested she sell him the substance since he needed them for his son, who was in great pain. Becky adamantly refused the requests. However, when the undercover police officer told her that the substance would help his son find comfort and relieve his pain, she felt sorry for the young boy. The undercover officer even showed her the picture of a young, sickly boy. Becky told the court that she broke down and agreed to sell some of the substance to the officer. He immediately arrested Becky. From the actions of the undercover officer, it is evident that his actions constituted an entrapment and an accused person can please not guilty. Lying by a police officer is lawful and has always been used to get a confession by a suspect. In the Frazier v. Cupp case, Martin E. Frazier was arrested on a tip-off in the likely involvement in the killing of Russell Antoon Marleau. Together with his cousin, Jerry Lee Rawls, the two were interrogated separately. In reference to Frazier v. Cupp, during the examination, the investigating police told Fraizer that his cousin had agreed and associated with the killing. The investigating officer got a confession from Frasier that was used to charge him in court. The two pleaded guilty of the offense and were sentenced. From the case, the police officer lied to Fraizer about his cousin’s implicating him in the murder, a move that led to their guilty plea. The court’s ruling set a precedent in which a confession is made voluntarily although a deceptive tactic had been applied. Lying is often a misleading strategy that a police officer can use in the case they want a guilty plea or confession, and it is allowed by a court of law. However, if applied indiscriminately, a suspect may use the strategy to challenge the prosecution and case wholly. Luna (2017) argues that l ying is legal and allowed by a court of law, while entrapment is considered an overbearing act towards leading one to commit a crime. A suspect can challenge an accusation if he or she feels that they were trapped into committing a crime.
References
Frazier v. Cupp, 394 U.S. 731 (969).
French, D. J. (2018). The Cutting Edge of Confession Evidence: Redefining Coercion and Reforming Police Interrogation Techniques in the American Criminal Justice System. Tex. L. Rev. , 97 , 1031.
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Luna, M. (2017). Juvenile False Confessions: Juvenile Psychology, Police Interrogation Tactics, and Prosecutorial Discretion. Nev. LJ , 18 , 291. http://scholars.law.unlv.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1733&context=nlj
Stephens, K. (2019). Misconduct and Bad Practices in False Confessions: Interrogations in the Context of Exonerations. NEULR , 11 , 593.
