Legal Question in Criminal Law in Wisconsin

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If you are wondering whether it is legal for law enforcement to pose as drug dealers, the answer is "yes." Officers routinely engage in deception in order to catch criminals, including drug purchasers, and this often includes posing as drug dealers and actually selling drugs to a buyer, who is subsequently arrested in a "reverse buy." Defenses in such a circumstance, however, could include entrapment if the buyer was not otherwise disposed to traffic in drugs. Selling water, of course, is not illegal, but buying something which one believes to be drugs (even if that belief is erroneous) could still furnish evidence of one�s participation in a criminal conspiracy and therefore lead to a criminal charge.