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Thieves’ lure as a police policy

שו”תCategory: moralThieves’ lure as a police policy
asked 7 years ago

Hello Rabbi,
I recently heard that in the US there is a practice where the police enter poor and distressed neighborhoods and set up all sorts of temptations for thieves (like an open truck with merchandise, etc.), and as soon as the thieves are tempted to steal, they catch them. I wanted to ask if you think this is a good policy? On the one hand, it makes it easier to catch thieves and prevents future thefts (in terms of money-seekers). On the other hand, it is possible that that potential thief would not have stolen if he had not faced such a temptation, and the policy itself creates a situation that increases the percentage of actual thieves in the population. In other words, there is a kind of “incitement” to steal by the police.
Best regards,

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0 Answers
מיכי Staff answered 7 years ago

In principle, this seems problematic. Although if there are special circumstances (such as a wave of theft in that area that cannot be overcome) such a course of action can be justified. We discussed this in the context of Avishai Raviv inciting Yigal Amir and his friends on behalf of the Shin Bet.

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