The Illustrated Guide to Criminal Law
Chapter 12: I Was Entrapped!
Entrapment pg 12: Zeke Also Thinks He Was Entrapped
Zeke is certain that that wasn’t right:
Zeke in the cells, complaining to Counsel
ZEKE
The police didn’t even try to stop us.
They can’t just let you break the law…
I was ENTRAPPED!
COUNSEL (not this again)
Oh for crying out…
Of course, it’s more than the cops letting them block the bridge, they made them block it by blocking them off at both ends.
When did it actually describe anything remotely like that?
The hypothetical situation being referenced here is very similar to a real thing that was widely publicized a few years before the time of publication of the comic during the height of the Occupy movement. Whereas the details here are sparse, during the Occupy protests police officers were actually reported (by the protesters at least) to have effectively sheparded the crowds onto the bridge, where they proceeded to blockade them and then arrest them for blocking traffic. Many people were unaware that the police had, in fact, directed people onto the bridge, and believed that the protesters were blocking the bridge in protest and thus had committed a crime, and criticized the protesters for proclaiming their innocence and that they were entrapped.
But that’s not what happened in this scenario. The protesters were crossing the bridge of their own accord. The police did not cause them to do it. Nor did the police block them off. All the police did was ALLOW the protesters to break the law, before arresting them for doing it. The police didn’t create the offense, they merely didn’t prevent it.