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- Title
SENTENCING ENTRAPMENT AND THE UNDUE INFLUENCE ENHANCEMENT.
- Authors
O'Connor, Kirstin Kerr
- Abstract
With the rapid growth of the Internet, Congress and the United States Sentencing Commission have expressed concern over the increasing opportunities for sex predators to target children online. This concern has resulted in the creation of a complex sentencing regime for such sex offenders. The provision of the Guidelines that determines the sentence for persons convicted of attempted statutory rape includes an enhancement for exerting undue influence over the victim. Federal courts had struggled with whether this enhancement could be applied to those caught in undercover law enforcement stings in which no real "victim" existed. The Sentencing Commission intervened in 2009 to specify that the Undue Influence Enhancement was inapplicable to such undercover operations. This Note explores the circuit split that prompted the Commission's clarification and examines the appropriateness of applying the Undue Influence Enhancement in undercover Internet stings. In particular, it analyzes the enhancement in light of entrapment and sentencing entrapment principles and ultimately concludes that these concerns do not compel a blanket prohibition on utilizing the enhancement in undercover operations.
- Subjects
UNITED States; ONLINE sexual predators; STATUTORY rape; UNDUE influence; CRIMINAL sentencing; INTERNET; UNITED States. Congress; UNITED States Sentencing Commission
- Publication
New York University Law Review, 2011, Vol 86, Issue 2, p609
- ISSN
0028-7881
- Publication type
Article