''In flagrante delicto'' (Latin for "in blazing offence"), sometimes simply ''in flagrante'' ("in blazing"), is a legal term used to indicate that a criminal has been caught in the act of committing an offence (compare ). The colloquial "caught red-handed" is an English equivalent. Aside from the legal meaning, the Latin term is often used colloquially as euphemism for someone being caught in the midst of

sexual activity Human sexual activity, human sexual practice or human sexual behaviour is the manner in which humans experience and express their sexuality. People engage in a variety of sexual acts, ranging from activities done alone (e.g., masturbation) t ...

Etymology

The phrase combines the present active participle '' flagrāns'' (flaming or blazing) with the noun '' dēlictum'' (offence, misdeed, or crime). In this term the Latin

preposition Adpositions are a part of speech, class of words used to express spatial or temporal relations (''in, under, towards, behind, ago'', etc.) or mark various thematic relations, semantic roles (''of, for''). The most common adpositions are prepositi ...

''in'', not indicating motion, takes the

ablative In grammar, the ablative case (pronounced ; abbreviated ) is a grammatical case for nouns, pronouns, and adjectives in the grammars of various languages. It is used to indicate motion away from something, make comparisons, and serve various o ...

. The closest literal translation would be "in blazing offence", where " blazing" is a metaphor for vigorous, highly visible action.

Worldwide

Latin America

In many Latin American countries, being caught ''in flagrante'' (, ) is a common legal requirement for both detention and

search and seizure Search and seizure is a procedure used in many Civil law (legal system), civil law and common law legal systems by which police or other authorities and their agents, who, suspecting that a crime has been committed, commence a search of a person ...

. Naturally, being caught ''in flagrante'' makes convictions easier to obtain; in some jurisdictions where the police are not adept at investigation and the use of

forensic science Forensic science combines principles of law and science to investigate criminal activity. Through crime scene investigations and laboratory analysis, forensic scientists are able to link suspects to evidence. An example is determining the time and ...

is not widespread, it may be difficult to get a conviction any other way. On occasion, governments with such constitutional requirements have been accused of stretching the definition of ''in flagrante'' in order to carry out illegal arrests. In Brazil, a member of the National Congress cannot be arrested unless caught ''in flagrante delicto'' of a non-bailable crime, and whether or not a member's detention should continue is decided by their parliamentary peers.

Japan

In Japan, the phrase's translation, , is used to refer to

citizen's arrest A citizen's arrest is an arrest made by a private citizen – a person who is not acting as a sworn Police officer, law-enforcement official. In common law jurisdictions, the practice dates back to medieval England and the English common law, in wh ...

, and is listed under Section 213 of the Code of Criminal Procedure as such.

References

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