CRJ 104: Chapter 9

Venire

A list of potential jurors from which the jury is selected. Venires must represent a cross-section of the population.

Traffic Hearings

The most common type of trial in the United States. Used to deal with traffic offenses.

Legal Guilt

This is established when a prosecutor is able to persuade a judge or jury that the defendant is guilty of the criminal charges.

Adjudicated

A formal judgment about a disputed matter.

Victim Bill of Rights

Adopted in many states, it offers rights to crime victims in that state.

Circumstantial Evidence

Evidence that requires the fact finder body to interpret it and draw conclusions about its meaning.

Federal Rules of Evidence

Federal rules guiding what is evidence and what can be introduced in trial.

Reputation Concerning Character

One of almost 30 exceptions to the hearsay rule which allows witnesses to testify under oath about the reputation of a person's friends and acquaintances. It also allows testimony regarding the person's character be introduced in court.

Excited Utterance

One of almost 30 exceptions to the hearsay rule which is a statement made by a person during a shocking or upsetting event. Words blurted out during the stress of excitement may be entered into court.

Jury Trials

Trials where the jury acts as the fact finder, weighs the evidence, deliberates, and renders a verdict. They are distinct from a bench trial in which the judge makes the decision of guilt or innocence.

Federal Sentencing Guidelines Act

A 1984 law that eliminated federal parole release for federal prisoners and abolished almost all good time earned by a prisoner.

Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act

A 1994 law that requires prisoners to serve at least 85% of their sentences in order for states to qualify for federal financial aid. Elements of determinate sentencing have increased the prison population.

Crime Victims' Rights Act

A 2004 law that established numerous rights to crime victims in federal cases.

Hearsay Rule

A basic rule that disallows testimony from a person about which he or she has no personal knowledge.

Parole Board

A board that reviews the prior acts and behavior of an inmate to determine when the prisoner is released from prison.

Strike for Cause

A challenge during voir dire in which the defense counsel, the prosecutor, or the judge identifies a potential juror he or she believes cannot be unbiased, fair, or impartial. Also known as challenge for cause.

Challenge for Cause

A challenge during voir dire in which the defense counsel, the prosecutor, or the judge identifies a potential juror he or she believes cannot be unbiased, fair, or impartial. Also known as strike for cause.

Challenge to the Array

A challenge occurring before the actual selection of jurors that indicates that the venire should be discharged due to a deficiency or illegality in the method in which the panel was selected.

Mistrial

A courtroom trial that ends prior to its normal conclusion. A hung jury or juror misconduct can lead to a mistrial.

Bifurcated Trials

A double trial system used for capital cases. Trial one is the guilt trial, while trial two determines punishment.

Mandatory Minimum

A form of structured sentencing that applies statute-based minimum sanctions to particular types of crime (e.g., drunk driving) and/or when particular elements of a crime exist (e.g., use of a firearm).

Deadlocked

A hung jury that is unable to reach an agreement regarding the guilt of a defendant.

Hung Jury

A jury that is unable to reach an agreement regarding the guilt of the defendant. Also known as a deadlocked jury.

Death Qualified

A part of voir dire in capital cases in which attorneys ascertain whether the prospective juror is suitable to sit on a case that may result in the death penalty.

Equity

A sentencing concept that emphasizes that similar crimes be punished in similar ways and with similar severity.

Proportionality

A sentencing concept that indicates that the severity of sentencing should correspond to the severity of the crime committed.

Social Debt

A sentencing concept that takes into account an offender's criminal past.

Perjury

A spoken or written intentional swearing of a false oath or misrepresenting of an agreement to be truthful.

Victim Impact Statement

A statement prepared by the victim or his or her family to inform the judge how the crime affected them physically, financially, emotionally, and psychologically. It is used in sentencing and in any parole hearings in the future.

Bench Trial

A trial in which a judge (or panel of judges) acts as the fact finder, weighs the evidence, deliberates, and renders a verdict. This is in contrast to a jury trial.

Three-Strikes Law

A type of mandatory minimum that mandates long (including life) prison terms for a third offense.

Sentencing Guidelines

A type of structured sentencing based on criminal history and severity of the crime, usually presented in a grid format that dictates the sentence served.

Determinate Sentencing

A type of structured sentencing which is established by legislative statute and rules out the possibility of alternatives to prison. Prisoners are given fixed sentences.

Jury Nullification

Ability of a jury to ignore the law and acquit a guilty defendant.

Allen Charge

Additional instructions a judge may give to a deliberating jury to discourage a mistrial.

Peremptory Challenge

An attorney may remove a prospective juror from the venire without giving a legal reason. It is unconstitutional to remove a prospective juror based on her or his ethnicity, race, or gender.

Pre-sentence Investigation

An investigation that gathers information on extenuating circumstances and the criminal history of the defendant to be used when determining the severity of the sentence.

Reading of the Verdict

Following jury deliberation, a formal event in the courtroom in which the jury offers their verdict on the charge(s).

Acquitted

Freeing someone from a criminal charge following a not guilty verdict.

Rebuttal

In some criminal trials, the prosecutors have the last opportunity to speak during closing arguments. The rebuttal is generally used to reiterate the prosecutor's case and to address comments made by the defense during its summation.

Pattern Jury Instructions

Language template to be used when charging the jury.

Civil Rights Act of 1875

One in a series of post-Civil War legislative acts, it prohibited the exclusion of African Americans from jury duty, among other things. In 1883, the Supreme Court ruled the act unconstitutional based on the fact that while the Fourteenth Amendment prohibits discrimination by the state, private individuals are not prohibited from doing the same.

Dying Declaration

One of almost 30 exceptions to the hearsay rule which allows the dying words of a witness to a crime to be used in court. For example, if someone who is dying exclaims to the paramedic treating her or him, "My husband shot me!" the paramedic could testify in court what the victim stated before dying.

Voir Dire

Process in which prospective jurors are questioned in court under oath by the judge, prosecutor, and defense counsel to attempt to uncover inappropriate jurors.

Deliberation

Process of deciding the guilt or lack of guilt of the defendant.

Factual Guilt

Refers to whether the defendant committed the crime in reality. This is distinct from legal guilt.

Restoration

Sentencing goal that addresses the harm done to victims, family and friends of victims, and the community.

Deterrence

Sentencing goal that seeks to dissuade the offender and others in the public from committing crime.

Direct Evidence

Something introduced in a trial that does not require an inference to be drawn by the fact finder body. Examples include video or a photograph of the defendant committing the crime.

Indeterminate Sentencing

System of sentencing that allowed greater judicial discretion. Judges sentenced offenders to a range of time. A parole board determined the precise time served.

Sequestered

The isolation of a jury. Most common in capital cases.

Beyond a Reasonable Doubt

The level of proof required for a criminal case conviction. Refers to a reasonable person having no reasonable doubt that the defendant is guilty as charged.

Criminal Trials

Trials to ascertain the guilt or lack of guilt of a defendant charged with committing a crime.

Civil Trials

Trials used to settle disputes between two parties that do not involve criminal misconduct.