Term
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Definition
| Conduct that unjustifiably and inexcusably inflicts or threatens substantial harm to individual or public interests |
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Definition
| Private wrongs for which an individual can sue the party who wronged them and recover money |
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| Crimes of moral turpitude |
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Definition
| Consist of criminal behavior that is inherently wrong and needs no law to tell us so (murder, rape) |
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Term
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Definition
| Crimes punishable by death or confinement in the state's prison for one year to life without parole |
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Term
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Definition
| Crimes punishable by fine and/or confinement in the local jail for up to one year |
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Term
| General part of criminal law |
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Definition
| Principles that apply to more than one crime |
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Term
| Special part of criminal law |
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Definition
| Defines specific crimes and arranges them into groups according to subject matter |
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Term
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Definition
| Crimes defined, for several centuries, by judges' opinions instead of actual written laws |
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Term
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Definition
| Finalized in 1962, it did away with common law and established a model for states to base their criminal codes upon |
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Term
| Analysis of criminal liability |
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Definition
| How to analyze statutes and cases to answer the question, "What behavior deserves criminal punishment?" |
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| Administrative agency crimes |
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Definition
| Violations of federal and state agency rules |
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Definition
| Must meet these four criteria: inflict pain or other unpleasant consequences; prescribe punishment in same law that defines the crime; administered intentionally; state must administer them |
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Term
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Definition
| School of thought that the goal of punishment is to inflict harm on those who first inflicted harm, both to the benefit of society and to the benefit of the offender, who must pay back society by accepting responsibility |
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Term
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Definition
| School of thought that the goal of punishment is to inflict pain on the offender to prevent other people from becoming offenders in the future |
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Term
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Definition
| Aims, by threat of punishment, to prevent the general population who haven't committed crimes from doing so |
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Term
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Definition
| Aims, by punishing already convicted offenders, to prevent them from committing any more crimes in the future |
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Term
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Definition
| Prevents convicted criminals from committing future crimes by locking them up, or, more rarely, but altering them surgically or executing them |
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Term
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Definition
| Aims to prevent future crimes by changing individual offenders so they'll want to play by the rules and won't commit any more crimes in the future |
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Term
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Definition
| Natural law stating that human beings seek pleasure and avoid pain |
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Term
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Definition
| Natural law stating that individuals can, and ordinarily do, act to maximize pleasure and minimize pain |
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Term
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Definition
| States that human beings won't commit crimes if they know that the pain of punishment outweighs the pleasure gained from committing crimes |
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Term
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Definition
| Permitting only minimum amount of pain necessary to prevent the crime |
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Term
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Definition
| Means that the prosecution has the burden of proof when it comes to proving the criminal act and intent |
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Term
| Proof beyond a reasonable doubt |
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Definition
| Highest standard of proof known to the law; does not mean beyond all doubt or to the level of absolute certainty |
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Term
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Definition
| The proof that prevents one from being convinced of a defendant's guilt, or the belief that there is a real possibility that the defendant is not guilty |
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Term
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Definition
| Justification and excuse; cases where defendant must present some evidence |
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Term
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Definition
| When defendants must begin the trial by stating their affirmative defense and presenting some evidence in support of that defense |
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Term
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Definition
| In some jurisdictions, if defendants meet the burden of production, they also have the burden of persuasion; meaning they must prove their evidence by a preponderance of the evidence (more than fifty percent of the evidence proves defense) |
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Term
| Discretionary decision making |
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Definition
| The ability of different criminal justice professionals to, at any point during the criminal process, decide to start, continue, or end the criminal process in motion |
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