Quratulain’s Reviews > Secrets: On the Ethics of Concealment and Revelation > Status Update

“If the police strive to counter the damage wrought by excessive secrecy through secretive and deceptive operations that create opportunities for crime and temptations to participate, and if governments and courts encourage this development, it will become increasingly difficult to distinguish those at task to uphold the law and those who aim to violate it.”

“The deception and participation in crime that agents undertake must be limited as possible in time and scope, involve as few persons as possible, and entail a minimum of make-believe and manipulation.

“If the government legitimated the instigation If crime, it may lose the trust that is already a vulnerable public commodity.”

“The possibility that agents will themselves become unable to draw the line between impersonating and becoming lawbreakers is not negligible...”

“Any policy that presupposes an unnaturally clear line between the guilty and innocent persons risks unfairness to individuals and injury to the state.”

“The danger to the public and to the government itself from such conduct override any benefit it may ensure.”

“Certain forms of conduct fall below the standards for government conduct— and that one is the actual instigation of crime by the government. When the government stoops to such methods, it hardly matters whether those encouraged be break the law are unwary innocents or unwary criminals.”

“To determine whether entrapment has been established, a line must be drawn between the tray for the unwary innocent and the trap for the unwary criminal.”

“It is hard to know at all times what is needed to be law-abiding. And under the conditions of temptation, persuasion, and pressure that undercover agents can create, the distinction may blur still further.”

“Police methods are unfair to the extent that they lead someone— whether through excessive temptation, exploiting weakness, affecting judgement, or threats— to take part in crimes he would probably never have committed otherwise.”