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Jacobson v. U.S.
Supreme Court of the United States | April 6, 1992 | 503 U.S. 540 | 112 S.Ct. 1535

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KeyCite: KeyCite Yellow Flag - Negative Treatment West Headnotes
Not Followed on State Law Grounds Rivera v. State, Wyo., January 7, (p.1)
1993 Attorneys and Law
westlaw Citation: Jacobson v. U.S., 503 U.S. 540 (U.S.Neb.,1992) Firms (p. )
All Citations: 503 U.S. 540, 112 S.Ct. 1535, 118 L.Ed.2d 174, 60 USLW 4307 Opinion (p. )
Dissenting Opinion
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Search Query: Jacobson v. United States 503 U.S. 540 All Citations (p. )
Jurisdiction: Nebraska

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 Miranda, Omar 10/25/2022
For Educational Use Only

Jacobson v. U.S., 503 U.S. 540 (1992)

112 S.Ct. 1535, 118 L.Ed.2d 174, 60 USLW 4307

Original Image of 112 S.Ct. 1535 (PDF) West Headnotes (9)

KeyCite Yellow Flag - Negative Treatment
Not Followed on State Law Grounds Rivera v. State, Wyo.,
[1] Criminal Law Decoys, informers,
January 7, 1993
or artifice
112 S.Ct. 1535 Criminal Law Prevention and
Supreme Court of the United States Investigation of Crime
...
Keith JACOBSON, Petitioner
v. *** Start Section
UNITED STATES. ...

No. 90-1124. [9] Criminal Law What Constitutes

| Entrapment
Argued Nov. 6, 1991. Criminal Law Prevention and
| Investigation of Crime
Decided April 6, 1992. 110 Criminal Law
110II Defenses in General
*** Start Section 110k36.5 Official Action, Inaction,
... Representation, Misconduct, or Bad Faith
110k37 Entrapment
Synopsis 110k37(2) What Constitutes Entrapment
Defendant was convicted in the United States 110k37(2.1) In general
District Court for the District of Nebraska of (Formerly 110k37(2))
receiving child pornography through the mail and 110 Criminal Law
he appealed. The Court of Appeals for the Eighth 110XXVII Prevention of Crime
110k1222 Prevention and Investigation of
Circuit, 893 F.2d 999,reversed but, on rehearing
Crime
en banc, affirmed 916 F.2d 467, and certiorari was 110k1222.1 In general
granted. The Supreme Court, Justice White, held that (Formerly 110k1222)
Government did not establish that defendant, who had When Government's quest for conviction
received mailings from the Government purporting to leads to the apprehension of an otherwise
be from organizations asserting individual rights, was law-abiding citizen who, if left to his own
predisposed to commit the offense prior to first contact devices, likely would never have run afoul
by Government. of the law, courts should intervene.

45 Cases that cite this headnote

Reversed.

Justice O'Connor dissented and filed opinion in which

Chief Justice Rehnquist and Justice Kennedy joined,
and in which Justice Scalia joined in part.
**1536 Syllabus *

* The syllabus constitutes no part of the

opinion of the Court but has been prepared
by the Reporter of Decisions for the

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 Miranda, Omar 10/25/2022
For Educational Use Only

Jacobson v. U.S., 503 U.S. 540 (1992)

112 S.Ct. 1535, 118 L.Ed.2d 174, 60 USLW 4307
commission of the crime so that the Government
convenience of the reader. See United
States v. Detroit Lumber Co., 200 U.S. 321, may prosecute. Sorrells v. United States, 287 U.S.
337, 26 S.Ct. 282, 287, 50 L.Ed. 499. 435, 442, 53 S.Ct. 210, 212, 77 L.Ed. 413. Jacobson
was not simply offered the opportunity to order
At a time when federal law permitted such conduct,
pornography, after which he promptly availed himself
petitioner Jacobson ordered and received from a
of that opportunity. He was the target of 26 months of
bookstore two Bare Boys magazines containing
repeated Government mailings and communications,
photographs of nude preteen and teenage boys.
*541 and the Government has failed to carry
Subsequently, the Child Protection Act of 1984 made
its burden of proving predisposition independent of
illegal the receipt through the mails of sexually explicit
its attention. The preinvestigation evidence-the Bare
depictions of children. After finding Jacobson's
Boys magazines-merely indicates a generic inclination
name on the bookstore mailing list, two Government
to act within a broad **1537 range, not all of which is
agencies sent mail to him through five fictitious
criminal. Furthermore, Jacobson was acting within the
organizations and a bogus pen pal, to explore
law when he received the magazines, and he testified
his willingness to break the law. Many of those
that he did not know that they would depict minors.
organizations represented that they were founded to
As for the evidence gathered during the investigation,
protect and promote sexual freedom and freedom
Jacobson's responses to the many communications
of choice and that they promoted lobbying efforts
prior to the criminal act were at most indicative of
through catalog sales. Some mailings raised the
certain personal inclinations and would not support the
spectre of censorship. Jacobson responded to some
inference that Jacobson was predisposed to violate the
of the correspondence. After 2 ½ years on the
Child Protection Act. On the other hand, the strong
Government mailing list, Jacobson was solicited
arguable inference is that, by waving the banner of
to order child pornography. He answered a letter
individual rights and disparaging the legitimacy and
that described concern about child pornography
constitutionality of efforts to restrict the availability
as hysterical nonsense and decried international
of sexually explicit materials, the Government not
censorship, and then received a catalog and ordered
only excited Jacobson's interest in material banned
a magazine depicting young boys engaged in sexual
by law but also exerted substantial pressure on him
activities. He was arrested after a controlled delivery
to obtain and read such material as part of the fight
of a photocopy of the magazine, but a search of his
against censorship and the infringement of individual
house revealed no materials other than those sent by
rights. Thus, rational jurors could not find beyond a
the Government and the Bare Boys magazines. At his
reasonable doubt that Jacobson possessed the requisite
jury trial, he pleaded entrapment and testified that he
predisposition before the Government's investigation
had been curious to know the type of sexual actions
and that it existed independent of the Government's
to which the last letter referred and that he had been
many and varied approaches to him. Pp. 1540-1543.
shocked by the Bare Boys magazines because he had
not expected to receive photographs of minors. He was
convicted, and the Court of Appeals affirmed. 916 F.2d 467 (CA 8 1990), reversed.

Held: The prosecution failed, as a matter of law,
to adduce evidence to support the jury verdict
that Jacobson was predisposed, independent of the
Government's acts and beyond a reasonable doubt,
to violate the law by receiving child pornography
through the mails. In their zeal to enforce the law,
Government agents may not originate a criminal
design, implant in an innocent person's mind the
disposition to commit a criminal act, and then induce
WHITE, J., delivered the opinion of the Court,
in which BLACKMUN, STEVENS, SOUTER, and
THOMAS, JJ., joined. O'CONNOR, J., filed a
dissenting opinion, in which REHNQUIST, C.J., and
KENNEDY, J., joined, and in which SCALIA, J.,
joined except as to Part II, post, p. 1543.

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