Undercover police officers and increased likelihood of criminal behavior

Criminal Justice/Forensics

Undercover" is a term that has made its way into the public vernacular, thanks in large part to movies and television programs. Undercover, at its fundamental level, means pretending to be someone else- the construction and portrayal of a false identity for an ulterior purpose. In the case of undercover police investigations, this ulterior purpose is to enforce the law. This is done by using a false identity to infiltrate a criminal group in order to gather evidence and build a case. This can be a long-term project- some cases have had an undercover operative on assignments that lasted for years. The purpose of this research paper is to show that undercover police officers are more likely to commit criminal acts than police officers who do not work undercover. Based upon the available data, it is possible to construct a strong argument in favor of the hypothesis. Undercover police officers are certainly more likely to commit crimes than other police officers, for a variety of reasons

Abstract

Chapter I- Introduction