entrapment

entrapment, in law, the instigation of a crime in the attempt to obtain cause for a criminal prosecution. Situations in which a government operative merely provides the occasion for the commission of a criminal act (e.g., when an undercover agent posing as a narcotics dealer is approached by a would-be customer) do not constitute entrapment. Only when the crime was not initially contemplated by the target is entrapment said to occur: thus, for example, an undercover agent may not recruit a previously law-abiding individual into a drug distribution ring in order to prosecute. Many police operations, especially in the areas of drugs and gambling, raise questions of entrapment, which is available as a defense in a trial.

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entrapment [en′trap·mənt]

(geology)

The underground trapping of oil or gas reserves by folds, faults, domes, asphaltic seals, unconformities, and such.

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Entrapment

Fear of Flying

metaphor for housewife Isadora Wing’s temporary inability to achieve self-awareness. [Am. Lit.: Fear of Flying]

Frome, Ethan

chained to detestable wife and unsalable farm. [Am. Lit.: Ethan Frome]

Loman, Willy

despite dreams of success, he is condemned to failure. [Am. Drama; Death of a Salesman, Payton, 397]

Nora

trapped in the domesticity demanded by her husband. [Nor. Lit.: Ibsen A Doll’s House]

Prufrock, J. Alfred

aware that his life is meaningless and empty, he struggles to rise above it, but cannot. [Br. Lit.: “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” in Payton, 548]

Rochester, Edward

tied to insane wife; cannot marry Jane Eyre. [Br. Lit.: Jane Eyre]