NCJ Number
139188
Journal
Crime, Law and Social Change Volume: 18 Issue: 1-2 Dated: (September 1992) Pages: 137-158
Date Published
1992
Length
22 pages
Annotation
This paper examines the occasionally controversial outcomes of police undercover work and steps that can mitigate its potential for immoral consequences.
Abstract
Observers of contemporary policing have warned that undercover work can entice essentially law-abiding persons to commit an offense. One way to lessen the threat is to restrict the targeting of undercover work to suspected lawbreakers. Careful staging of the undercover work (an authentic opportunity structure) will also diminish the likelihood that something about the intervention itself, such as offering too much money, might encourage a non- predisposed person to commit a crime. To insist on focused targeting, however, limits the range of police activity by making the authorities highly dependent on the availability of informants. It is equally problematic to demand that only authentic opportunity structures be used, since doing so ignores the complex interactions of authenticity, safety, and evidence. Perhaps all that should be required is that the police carefully assess the dimensions of targeting and opportunity structure whenever undercover work is contemplated. If there is concern about the authenticity of settings, inducements for lawbreaking should be limited. Targets should also have adequate notice that their proposed behavior is criminal. If opportunity structures are unauthentic, or if their "real-world" equivalent is unknown, focused targeting should be used. Undercover strategies that require both diffused targeting and unauthentic opportunity structures should be avoided. 19 notes and 41 references