Editing Covert operation (section)

==Participation in criminal activities==
Undercover agents may engage in criminal activities as part of their investigation. Joh defined the term ''authorized criminality'' to describe this phenomenon, which she restricts primarily to undercover law enforcement officers, excluding [[informant|confidential informants]].{{sfn|Joh|2009|p=157}} These criminal activities are primarily used to "provide opportunities for the suspect to engage in the target crime" and to maintain or bolster their cover identity. However, these crimes must be necessary to advance the investigation otherwise they may be prosecutable like any other crime.{{sfn|Joh|2009|p=165}} The FBI requires that such activities must be sanctioned and necessary for the investigation; they also stipulate that agents may not instigate criminal activity (to avoid entrapment) or participate in violence except for self-defense or the defense of others.<ref>{{Bluebook journal | last=Op. Atty' Gen. | title=The Attorney General’S Guidelines on Federal Bureau of Investigation Undercover Operations | pin=12 | url=https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/ag/legacy/2013/09/24/undercover-fbi-operations.pdf | year=2002}}</ref> Most other legislation surrounding authorized criminality is not uniform and is a patchwork of federal and state laws.{{sfn|Joh|2009|p=168}}