Informant

From Encyclopedia Jr, free information reference for Kids

An informant (sometimes informer) is someone who provides information to law enforcement agencies.

[edit] Ancient

In Greece and Rome, and particularly against the emperors, informers (the Roman delatores) were a key part of the judicial system. They informed the Roman Senate about urgent matters important to the republic and later, the empire. In the Middle Ages, any Christian was put to death through the testimony (delatio) of another Christian would be sentenced to excommunication, according to the Synod of Elvira in circa 306 C.E.

[edit] Modern

An informer historically refers to someone in Ireland who provided a flow of inside information to state security agencies, usually for financial gain and/or immunity from prosecution, while purporting to be a member or sympathiser of the targeted political organisation. Informers were widely used by the British Government to against the United Irishmen, Fenian Brotherhood, Irish Republican Brotherhood and the Irish Republican Army.

Quite frequently, the informant will themselves be a criminal and in such cases they will usually provide information in order to obtain lenient treatment for themselves. Some informants may provide information over an extended period of time in return for money or for police to overlook their own criminal activities. Quite often someone will become an informant following their arrest. The CIA has been criticized for letting major drug lords out of prison as informants.

Informants are most common in the world of organized crime because, by its very nature, organized crime involves many people who are aware of each other's guilt in a variety of illegal activities. There have also been informants within organizations, such as the IRA.

Informants are regarded as traitors by their former criminal associates, and most criminal and terrorist organizations punish informers with death. Informers therefore have to be protected, either by being segregated in prison or — if they are not incarcerated - relocated and given a new identity.

Several slang terms for informants have arisen over the years, most of which being pejorative. They include rat, snitch, squealer, and stool pigeon. [1] (To catch Passenger Pigeons, hunters would nail a pigeon to a stool. Its alarmed cries would attract other birds, which the hunter would then shoot.^{[citation needed]}) In the United Kingdom, grass is a common word for an informant. "Squeak" or "Squeal" used as a verb is also often used to refer to informing. In Australia, the term Dobber is used to refer an informant.

Defense lawyers make deals with courts and authorities to get the criminal out of jail as an informant. The slang term for this type of behaviour is called "pulling a Jeremy" coined after the infamous American informant code named "Jeremy" who disclosed information about the whereabouts of President Noriega during Operation Just Cause, leading to Noriega's capture. The police expect informants to sell drugs and commit other crimes, so that the informant can blend into the criminal environment without suspicion. Police have been criticized for allowing the criminals to repeat their crimes. In some cases, the crime organization or gang knows a criminal among them is an informant, so they don't say anything incriminating to him. Sometimes informants may provide disinformation so that the police will be misled. Also, for various reasons informants may not always give information that is of value to the ongoing investigation.

[edit] Famous informants

• Joe "The Animal" Barboza
• James J. "Whitey" Bulger
• Denis Donaldson
• Leonard Macnally
• Henry Hill
• Stephen "The Rifleman" Flemmi
• Mickey Featherstone
• Tommaso Buscetta
• Joe Massino
• Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano
• Abe Reles
• Stakeknife
• Joe Valachi
• Linda Tripp
• Jim Moses

• Jane/Finch's Grizz
• Shadow
• Bryan Lettieri, Danny Lyons

In linguistics the speakers of the local vernacular who are used for acquiring information on the grammar and structure of that language or dialect are called informants.

[edit] See also

• Pentiti
• Witness Protection Program
• Whistle-blower
• Supergrass (informer)
• Stop Snitching