The McGeorge Alternative Summer Advantage Program (“McGeorge ASAP”) is a self-directed volunteer summer legal research project created by alum Lexi Purich Howard and Asst. Dean of Career Development Molly Stafford in response to COVID-19. The program matched McGeorge students who lost summer opportunities due to the pandemic with local attorneys for guidance on a research project on the topic of the student’s choosing. This week’s ASAP paper was authored by Mike Della Maggiore (2L, 2022) under the mentorship of Allison Cross, a defense attorney for the Placer County Public Defender’s Office, Koukol & Associates.
“In today’s political climate, police conduct has never been under such watchful eyes. The Black Lives Matter movement has directed the attention of every observant American to the systemic discrimination our country perpetuates. But what about the processes that lie beneath the surface, out of view of even the most vigilant? Entrapment is the result of undercover police conduct, but in California entrapment is defined as law enforcement conduct likely to induce a normally law-abiding person to commit the offense. This article serves not to argue the legality of affirmative police conduct or its justifications but seeks to explore California’s current entrapment defense standard and the discriminatory patterns therein. This article begins with the history of the entrapment defense and how different standards evolved. This article will then explain California’s current standard and its shortcomings, specifically, how it produces patterns of discrimination based on race, socio economic status, and gender. This article then posits California should enact a different test to avoid the discrimination currently perpetuated by this practice…”