A Tumblr by a criminal defense attorney that explains criminal law through illustrated comics, including entrapment and the jury.
HN commenters call the entrapment cartoon a great overview of the legal aspects and recommend the Illustrated Guide to the Law for learning law without law school.
> This is a horrible result - how can law enforcement be effective if no one trusts them enough to willingly assist them?
I agree. I would much prefer living under a legal code where we could even estimate the number of federal crimes. I want to live in a country where possession of a rare bird feather isn't a felony [1]. Unfortunately, that country is not the US today, and as such you can't trust LEOs.
> Their job just got tougher today.
It really didn't, not by much. There's one born every minute. The fraction of the US population that doesn't understand their basic constitutional rights, or the restrictions put on the police force, is overwhelming. See [2].
Honestly, just look through the entire collection of comics I linked to. They're definitely worth your time.
1. http://thecriminallawyer.tumblr.com/post/29326904495/16-a-problems
2. http://thecriminallawyer.tumblr.com/post/19810672629/12-i-was-entrapped
Forgive me for basis a lot of my argument off a single comic/link, but this comic blog from a lawyer helps explain why the Jury system is very much so a problem (mildly long read):
http://thecriminallawyer.tumblr.com/post/16202923895/interlude-the-jury
In short, you're asking jurors to take on a huge responsibility with little to no understanding of the laws they're being expected to make a decision on. In virtually every instance the jurors are left in a completely uneducated state and unable to give any proper assessment, relying basically on whatever cues they decide to pick up on instead of factual evidence. The idea of 12 Angry Men never really existed with juries and was far outside the scope of what a juror is really supposed to be doing.
For people interested in learning more about the law without going to law school, The Illustrated Guide to the Law (http://lawcomic.net/) is a great resource. It is drawn by a former NYC prosecutor and current defense attorney. He's gone through the intro to criminal law and is on criminal procedure, specifically the 5th amendment implications for custodial interrogation.
He seems to be having server issues right now though :/
http://thecriminallawyer.tumblr.com/page/5 has some of his sketches though.
They called this "entrapment", but I don't think this really qualifies. A student searching in a way where the honeypot shows up was already attempting to cheat, they weren't tricked into it. It's not like the exam software subtly recommends going to these fake sites to students having difficulty. There may be ethical questions, but it doesn't seem to be creating "fake cheaters".
The fun cartoon guide to entrapment: https://thecriminallawyer.tumblr.com/post/19810672629/12-i-was-entrapped
That's not entrapment.
An undercover cop can ask you to commit a crime without entrapping you. It's only entrapment if the police induce you to commit a crime that you wouldn't commit otherwise. Hence, them offering you the opportunity to commit a crime is permitted by law.
See this illustrated guide to understand better:
http://thecriminallawyer.tumblr.com/post/19810672629/12-i-was-entrapped
Entrapment is a subtle concept. Most people misunderstand it; police are legally permitted to do much more than most expect.
This guide enumerates the misunderstandings about entrapment, and (if you're not already a lawyer) it will likely teach you something that could prove valuable: https://thecriminallawyer.tumblr.com/post/19810672629/12-i-was-entrapped