Opinion ID: 1367509
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: traps, enticement, entrapment

Text: This appeal enters the curious and subterranean world of a segment of the lawentrapmentwhich is completely an American tradition. The basic concern, never fully answered, is how much should law enforcement officials assist, or create occurrences of criminality, when the desired result is to capture and punish those persons targeted for prosecution. Upon inversion into that world and its connections to American government, politics, judicial conduct and law enforcement today, one is given to an immediate reaction similar to what is seen upon the slimy upturned surface when a damp flat rock is overturned in the heat of the day. In reality, we look at accepted or justified law enforcement violations of due process rights. A thoughtful discussion is provided by Gail M. Greaney, Note, Crossing the Constitutional Line: Due Process and the Law Enforcement Justification, 67 Notre Dame L.Rev. 745, 795-97 (1992) (quoting Olmstead v. United States, 277 U.S. 438, 479, 48 S.Ct. 564, 572-73, 72 L.Ed. 944 (1928)) (footnotes omitted), in which she concludes: Whenever a nation is faced with an evil that threatens the underpinnings of society, it is tempting to compromise personal liberties to combat the threat. Such is the case regarding the current fight against narcotics in the United States. Senator Edward M. Kennedy, in a recent address to the American Bar Association, discussed the role of the Constitution in the nation's battle against drugs. Recognizing that the war on drugs is beginning to exert pressure on the Fifth Amendment right to due process, he admonished: The Constitution is perfectly capable of accommodating the legitimate interests of law enforcementbut end runs around the Bill of Rights are unacceptable, and it is irresponsible for any administration committed to the rule of law to try them. It appears from analyzing many of the reverse sting cases that have rejected the due process defense, that courts are coming dangerously close to ignoring a defendant's due process rights in the face of public policy concerns regarding the war on drugs. Our constitutional rights do not contribute to the drug problem, and compromising them will not solve it. We do not need to trample the Bill of Rights to win the war on drugs. The fact that our nation is faced with a social problem that is daily approaching tragic proportions does not mean that due process rights need no longer be protected. The Constitution has endured for two centuries because the courts have not sacrificed its protections in the face of current social problems. Judge Zagel in Stokes v. City of Chicago [744 F.Supp. 183, 188 (N.D.Ill.1990) ] eloquently expressed the enormity of the problem facing law enforcement officers in combatting crime: Policing is a lofty calling, vital to the public weal, often heroic in action. The grace and worth of the work usually remains unseen and unappreciated by those it serves. In grime and squalor, facing danger and fury, bearing witness to what is worst in men and womeneven police officers sometimes lose sight of the dignity of their service. Nevertheless, these problems, and the gravity of the social harms resulting from narcotics offenses in the United States, do not justify violating the due process rights of individuals. Although the law recognizes that at times ends may justify means, the essence of constitutional due process is that lawlessness will not be tolerated, no matter how socially desirable the goal. As Justice Brandeis cautioned: Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the Government's purposes are beneficent. Men born to freedom are naturally alert to repel invasion of their liberty by evil-minded rulers. The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding. [5]