The employment and conduct of undercover agents: Ethical challenges of legal solutions

Abstract

The challenge of proving the crimes of the 21st century lies largely with the constant progress and improvement of the methods and ways of action of the perpetrators, which is especially characteristic of the most serious forms of crime that threaten the security of the state and all its citizens. Therefore, there is a need for specific state action both in the prevention of these crimes and in their suppression. This includes the use of special evidentiary actions provided by law. As the most complex one, Serbian legislation provides for the action of employing an undercover agent. The key feature of the undercover agent's actions is contained in Art. 185, para. 4 of the Criminal Procedure Code, which prescribes that it is prohibited and punishable for an undercover agent to incite the commission of a criminal offense. However, other legislatures, such as the U.S. one, are familiar with the institute of the agent provocateur. The question that arises is related to ethics, but also the efficiency of various legal solutions, and the aim of this research is a type of scientific explanation of the relationship of both legal solutions with ethics in general, but also with numerous legal institutes that may be in danger in case of provocation. In conducting this research, in addition to analytical-synthetic and inductive-deductive methods, the statistical method also had an important role, as a short survey was conducted with 82 random respondents.

Keywords

• undercover agent
• agent provocateur
• special evidence-gathering actions
• ethics
• comparative legislation
• moral responsibility
• legal responsibility