Cite as: 503 U. S. 540 (1992)
Opinion of the Court
mail. . . . After consultations with American solicitors, we have been advised that once we have posted our material through your system, it cannot be opened for any inspection without authorization of a judge." Ibid.
The letter invited petitioner to send for more information. It also asked petitioner to sign an affirmation that he was "not a law enforcement officer or agent of the U. S. Government acting in an undercover capacity for the purpose of entrapping Far Eastern Trading Company, its agents or customers." Petitioner responded. Ibid. A catalog was sent, id., Government Exhibit 2, and petitioner ordered Boys Who Love Boys, id., Government Exhibit 3, a pornographic magazine depicting young boys engaged in various sexual activities. Petitioner was arrested after a controlled delivery of a photocopy of the magazine.
When petitioner was asked at trial why he placed such an order, he explained that the Government had succeeded in piquing his curiosity:
"Well, the statement was made of all the trouble and the hysteria over pornography and I wanted to see what the material was. It didn't describe the—I didn't know for sure what kind of sexual action they were referring to in the Canadian letter." Tr. 427-428.
In petitioner's home, the Government found the Bare Boys magazines and materials that the Government had sent to him in the course of its protracted investigation, but no other materials that would indicate that petitioner collected, or was actively interested in, child pornography.
Petitioner was indicted for violating 18 U. S. C. § 2252(a) (2)(A). The trial court instructed the jury on the petitioner's entrapment defense,1 petitioner was convicted, and a di-1 The jury was instructed: "As mentioned, one of the issues in this case is whether the defendant was entrapped. If the defendant was entrapped he must be found not
547
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