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An informant (sometimes informer or intelligencer) is someone existing inside a closed system who provides information of that system to a figure or organization who exist outside of that system. Most notably these organizations include law enforcement agencies, but also informants are utilized by others such as social scientists. The social sciences comprise academic disciplines concerned with the study of the social life of human groups and individuals including Anthropology, Communication studies

Phrased less formally, an informer or informant could be a member of an underground organization, a criminal gang or any other group outlawed, persecuted or harassed by the civil or military authorities, who gives the authorities information about the group as a whole and/about other members.

Public attitudes to informers and informants change enormously with different circumstances. When the group concerned is involved in principled opposition to a tyrannical regime or a foreign occupation, an informer within its ranks will likely to be considered (at least by those sympathizing with its aims) as a despicable traitor. On the other hand, in cases of criminal gangs considered a danger to society, use of informers might be considered socially useful. In cases where the role of an organization is debated - for example, the many groups regarding themselves as "freedom fighters" but defined by the authorities as "terrorists" - appreciation of informers within their ranks may vary accordingly.


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Political informers

An informer in Ireland historically refers to someone 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 sympathizer of the targeted political organization. Informers were widely used by the British Government against the United Irishmen, Fenian Brotherhood, Irish Republican Brotherhood and the Irish Republican Army. The Society of United Irishmen was founded as a Liberal political organisation in eighteenth century Ireland that sought Parliamentary reform The Fenian Brotherhood was an Irish Republican organization founded in the United States in 1850s by John O'Mahony and Michael Doheny. The Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB was a secret oath-bound fraternal organisation dedicated to the establishment of an "independent democratic Republic" in the mid nineteenth The Irish Republican Army ( IRA) (Óglaigh na hÉireann was a military organisation descended from the Irish Volunteers, established 25 November 1913 and who

Labor organization informers

Corporations and the detective agencies that sometimes represent them have historically hired labor spies to monitor or control labor organizations and their activities. Labor spies are persons recruited or employed for the purpose of gathering intelligence committing sabotage sowing dissent or engaging in other similar activities typically within Such individuals may be professionals or recruits from the workforce. They may be willing accomplices, or may be tricked into informing on their co-workers' unionization efforts.

Criminal informers

Informants are most commonly found in the world of organized crime. "Crime syndicate" redirects here For the DC Comics group of villains see Crime Syndicate. By its very nature, organized crime involves many people who are aware of each other's guilt in a variety of illegal activities. Law is a system of rules enforced through a set of Institutions used as an instrument to underpin civil obedience politics economics and society Quite frequently, informants will provide information in order to obtain lenient treatment for themselves and 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. near as long as it used to be several months ago It has been actively summarized and split into sub-articles and there is a dynamic talk page discussion of all A drug lord or drug baron is the term used to describe a person who controls a sizable network of persons involved in the Illegal drugs trade. Informants are regarded as traitors by their former criminal associates, who may punish informers with acts of violence or even death. In Law, treason is the Crime that covers some of the more serious acts of disloyalty to one's sovereign or Nation. Informers are therefore generally protected, either by being segregated in prison or, if they are not incarcerated, relocated under a new identity. A prison, penitentiary, or correctional facility is a place in which individuals are physically confined or interned and usually deprived of a range of

There has also been much criticism about the witness protection program. Witness protection is Protection of a threatened Witness, before during and after a trial, usually by Police. Many informers are allowed to enter state and federal witness protection programs after they have given testimony. Once within the shelter of witness protection, these informers often continue with their lives of crime, a lifestyle that casts a large shadow of doubt on the veracity of their testimony. This shows the abuse that witness protection programs can be subjected to. One such notable protected witness was David Clay Lind, a known gang member and reported drug addict who was said to have died of a drug overdose while in witness protection. Gangsters redirects here For the computer game see Gangsters (video game. The term drug overdose (or simply overdose or OD) describes the Ingestion or application of a Drug or other substance in quantities

The slang term used when defense lawyers make deals with courts and authorities to get a criminal out of jail as an informant 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. Manuel Antonio Noriega (born February 11, 1934) He was never officially the President of Panama, but held the post of "chief executive officer" The United States invasion of Panama, codenamed Operation Just Cause, was the Invasion of Panama by the United States in December 1989 They may be allowed to engage in crime, so that the potential informant can blend into the criminal environment without suspicion.

Whatever the nature of a group, it is bound to feel strong hostility towards any known informers, regard them as threats and inflict punishments ranging from social ostracism through physical abuse and/or death.

Terms for informants

English language usage

Several slang terms for informants have arisen over the years, most of them pejorative. Slang is the use of highly informal Words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speaker's Dialect or Language. They include:

Non-English

See also

Pentito ( Italian he who has repented, Plural pentiti) designates people in Italy who formerly part of criminal or terrorist The United States Federal Witness Protection Program is a Witness protection program administered by the United States Department of Justice to protect threatened This is an article about a term For the 2008 RTÉ drama see Whistleblower (TV series. A supergrass is slang term for an Informer, which originated in London. Stop Snitchin' refers to a controversial campaign in the USA to convince criminal Informants to stop "snitching" or informing, to The Informer is a 1935 dramatic film released by RKO. The plot concerns the underside of the Irish War of Independence set in 1922 On the Waterfront is a American Drama film about mob violence and corruption among longshoremen.

Dictionary

informant

-noun

  1. One who relays confidential information to someone, especially to the police; an informer.
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