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.

entrapment

[en′trap·mənt]

(geology)

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

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]