''In flagrante delicto'' (Latin for "in blazing offence") or 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 Red-handed may refer to: Animals * Red-handed howler, New World monkey * Red-handed tamarin, New World monkey Expression * ''Caught red-handed'' or ''In flagrante delicto'' Art, entertainment, and media Television Music * Red Handed, one-thir ...

" and "caught rapid" are English equivalents. Aside from the legal meaning, the Latin term is often used colloquially as a euphemism for someone being caught in the midst of sexual activity.

Etymology

The phrase combines the

present active participle In linguistics, a participle () (from Latin ' a "sharing, partaking") is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. More narrowly, ''participle'' has been defined as "a word derived from ...

'' flagrāns'' (flaming or blazing) with the noun '' dēlictum'' (offence, misdeed, or crime). In this term the Latin

preposition Prepositions and postpositions, together called adpositions (or broadly, in traditional grammar, simply prepositions), are a class of words used to express spatial or temporal relations (''in'', ''under'', ''towards'', ''before'') or mark various ...

''in'', not indicating motion, takes the ablative. 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'' ( es, link=no, en flagrancia) is a common legal requirement for both detention and search and seizure. 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, also known as criminalistics, is the application of science to criminal and civil laws, mainly—on the criminal side—during criminal investigation, as governed by the legal standards of admissible evidence and criminal ...

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 ''National Congress'' is a term used in the names of various political parties and legislatures . Political parties *Ethiopia: Oromo National Congress *Guyana: People's National Congress (Guyana) *India: Indian National Congress *Iraq: Iraqi Nati ...

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

References

External links