Pretrial Procedures
The dollar amount or conditions set by the court to ensure that an individual accused of a crime will appear for further criminal proceedings
Bail
A trial conducted without a jury, in which a judge makes the determination of the defendant's guilt or innocence.
Bench Trial
The use of the death penalty to punish wrongdoers of certain crimes.
Capital Punishment
A criminal sanction in which a convict is allowed to remain in the community rather than be imprisoned.
Probation
The prison official who is ultimately responsible for the organization and performance of a correctional facility.
Warden
The process by which the accused and the prosecutor work out a mutually satisfactory conclusion to the case, subject to court approval
Plea Bargaining
The questioning of an opposing witness during trial.
Cross-Examination
A situation in which those convicted of similar crimes do not receive similar sentences.
Sentencing Disparity
A community based sanction in which offenders serve their terms of incarceration in their homes.
Home Confinement
Correctional facilities operated independently instead of the government and, therefore, reliant on profits for survival.
Private Prisons
Court-Appointed attorneys who are paid by the state to represent defendants who cannot afford private council.
Public Defenders
A jury whose members are so irreconcilably divided in their opinions that they cannot reach a verdict.
Hung Jury
Legislatively determined guidelines that judges are required to follow when sentencing those convicted of specific crimes.
Sentencing Guidelines
**DOUBLE JEOPARDY**
The number of individual probationers or parolees under the supervision of a probation or parole officer.
Caseload
A highly secure, freestanding correctional facility that manages offenders who would pose a threat to the security and safety of other inmates and staff members if houses in the general inmate population.
Supermax Prison
A judge's order that releases an accused person from jail with the understanding that he or she will return of his or her own will for proceedings
Release on Recognizance (ROR)
**DOUBLE JEOPARDY**
Laws limiting the amount of time prosecutors have to bring criminal charges against a suspect after the crime has occurred.
Statues of Limitations
Any circumstances accompanying the commission of a crime that may justify a harsher sentence.
Aggravating Circumstances.
A body of appointed civilians that decides whether a convict should be granted conditional release before the end of his or her sentence.
Parole Board
What are three common jail inmate conditions?
suffer from mental illness.
medical problems or have physical disabilities.
dependent on alcohol or other drugs.
A group of citizens called to decide if there is probably cause to believe that the defendant committed the crime with which she or he is charged.
Grand Jury
Evidence given to counteract or disprove evidence presented by the opposing party.
Rebuttal
An approach to punishment designed to repair the harm done to the victim and the community by the offender's criminal act.
Restorative Justice
A goal of correction that focuses on preparing the offender for a return to the community unmarred by further criminal behavior.
Reintegration
a 19th century penitentiary system developed in New York in which inmates were kept in separate cells during the night but worked together in the daytime under a code of enforced silence.
Congregate System