According to A.R.S. §13-206, what condition must be met for a suspect to claim entrapment?

The provision in A.R.S. §13-206 establishes that for a suspect to successfully claim entrapment, it must be demonstrated that law enforcement initiated the criminal idea. This means that the action of committing a crime was not originally conceived by the suspect, but rather instigated by law enforcement officers. The legal foundation for entrapment rests on the principle that law enforcement cannot simply coax or persuade an otherwise innocent person into committing a crime that they would not have considered without the officer's involvement.

This highlights the importance of distinguishing between police actions that legitimately encourage or otherwise enable criminal behavior versus those that cross the line into entrapment, where the government manipulates or creates the crime itself. In practice, successfully claiming entrapment often requires the defendant to provide evidence that there would have been no criminal intent or action without the involvement of law enforcement agents. Other conditions, such as the suspect's prior criminal intent, acting under duress, or having legal counsel, do not meet the legal threshold defined for establishing an entrapment defense under this statute.