@Magnified how would that work out in front of the right judge? Lots of analogies can be drawn up.
Can a nark smoke a joint, hand it to you then bust you and not be guilty themselves? Can a lady actually go thru the act with you, then arrest you but allow themselves to walk? So can another break the law, either break the speed limit, and engage in a race, then arrest you and walk? Damn it, is it still the USA on that west coast?
They can produce the situation, but not command the act. Generally, if they act the fool and goad you into racing, when you finally set up, if on the count of three (or whatever) you launch and they don't, technically that's not entrapment. You started the race. Works the same if the jihadist sting unit says "here, this cell phone is connected to those bombs we just set out on the plaza. Dial that number on the screen to set them off. Allahu akbar!" No one (supposedly) is going to make the target actually push the call button to detonate the bombs, even if he did not participate in building them.
It's a very fine line. If its not done just right there are many counter arguments that can be made (but as with all things, while the counter arguments can be made, that doesn't meant they'll be successful in the end).
For the other questions - nope, officers can't have sex with the mark then charge them with prostitution (generally). And all this is not west coast only, the law is pretty much the same everywhere. One thing I have always held out as a superiority of European Napoleonic code based law compared to our English common law base is what they do with the results of this kind of thing. Here, if police violate constitutional rights with a warrant-less search or whatever, the evidence is tossed entirely and the accused walks free. In my mind, this punishes society. In Europe, the police are punished (with a fine, diciplinary action, etc...) but the evidence remains admissible. This actually gives a lot of options to the police - if they feel a serial killer lives in house X, but they do not have enough probable cause for a search warrant, they can go ahead and search the house anyway, risking the punishment, in order to produce the evidence and stop the killer.
Anyway, too early for such things. And a busy day. And god I'm tired of working. I should be able to spend the day just driving the cars and having fun. If there were any justice in the world. lol
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That is of course just my opinion....
