| institution of social control | An organization that persuades people, through subtle and not-so-subtle means, to abide by the dominant values of society.
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| booking | The administrative recording of an arrest. Typically, the suspect's name, the charge, and perhaps the suspect's fingerprints or photograph are entered in the police blotter.
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| misdemeanor | A less serious crime generally punishable by a fine or by incarceration in jail for not more than 1 year.
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| ordinance violation | Usually the violation of a law of a city or town.
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| complaint | A charging document specifying that an offense has been committed by a person or persons named or described.
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| felony | A serious offense punishable by confinement in prison for more than 1 year or by death.
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| grand jury indictment | A written accusation by a grand jury that one or more persons has committed a crime.
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| defendant | A person against whom a legal action is brought, a warrant is issued, or an indictment is found.
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| initial appearance | A pretrial stage in which a defendant is brought before a lower court to be given notice of the charge(s) and advised of her or his constitutional rights.
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| summary trial | An immediate trial without a jury.
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| probable cause | A standard of proof that requires evidence sufficient to make a reasonable person believe that, more likely than not, the proposed action is justified.
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| bail | Usually a monetary guarantee deposited with the court to ensure that suspects or defendants will appear at a later stage in the criminal justice process.
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| arraignment | A pretrial stage to hear the information or indictment and to allow a plea.
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| plea bargaining | The practice whereby a specific sentence is imposed if the accused pleads guilty to an agreed-upon charge or charges instead of going to trial.
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| system | A smoothly operating set of arrangements and institutions directed toward the achievement of common goals.
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| crime control model | One of Packer's two models of the criminal justice process. Politically, it reflects traditional conservative values. In this model, the control of criminal behavior is the most important function of criminal justice.
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| due process model | One of Packer's two models of the criminal justice process. Politically, it embodies traditional liberal values. In this model, the principal goal of criminal justice is at least as much to protect the innocent as it is to convict the guilty.
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| doctrine of legal guilt | The principle that people are not to be held guilty of crimes merely on a showing, based on reliable evidence, that in all probability they did in fact do what they are accused of doing. Legal guilt results only when factual guilt is determined in a procedurally regular fashion, as in a criminal trial, and when the procedural rules designed to protect suspects and defendants and to safeguard the integrity of the process are employed.
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| myths | Beliefs based on emotion rather than analysis.
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| legal definition of crime | An intentional violation of the criminal law or penal code, committed without defense or excuse and penalized by the state.
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| overcriminalization | The prohibition by the criminal law of some behaviors that arguably should not be prohibited.
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| nonenforcement | The failure to routinely enforce prohibitions against certain behaviors.
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| undercriminalization | The failure to prohibit some behaviors that arguably should be prohibited.
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| harm | The external consequence required to make an action a crime.
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| legality | The requirement (1) that a harm must be legally forbidden for the behavior to be a crime and (2) that the law must not be retroactive.
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| ex post facto law | A law that (1) declares criminal an act that was not illegal when it was committed, (2) increases the punishment for a crime after it is committed, or (3) alters the rules of evidence in a particular case after the crime is committed.
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| actus reus | Criminal conduct—specifically, intentional or criminally negligent (reckless) action or inaction that causes harm.
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| mens rea | Criminal intent; a guilty state of mind.
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| negligence | The failure to take reasonable precautions to prevent harm.
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| duress | Force or coercion as an excuse for committing a crime.
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| juvenile delinquency | A special category of offense created for young offenders, usually those between 7 and 18 years of age.
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| insanity | Mental or psychological impairment or retardation as a defense against a criminal charge.
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| entrapment | A legal defense against criminal responsibility when a person, who was not already predisposed to it, is induced into committing a crime by a law enforcement officer or by his or her agent.
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| necessity defense | A legal defense against criminal responsibility used when a crime has been committed to prevent a more serious crime.
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| mala in se | Wrong in themselves. A description applied to crimes that are characterized by universality and timelessness.
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| mala prohibita | Offenses that are illegal because laws define them as such. They lack universality and timelessness.
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| dark figure of crime | The number of crimes not officially recorded by the police.
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| crime index | An estimate of crimes committed.
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| offenses known to the police | A crime index, reported in the FBI's uniform crime reports, composed of crimes that are both reported to and recorded by the police.
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| crime rate | A measure of the incidence of crime expressed as the number of crimes per unit of population or some other base.
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| uniform crime reports | A collection of crime statistics and other law enforcement information gathered under a voluntary national program administered by the FBI.
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| eight index crimes | The Part I offenses in the FBI's uniform crime reports. They are (1) murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, (2) forcible rape, (3) robbery, (4) aggravated assault, (5) burglary, (6) larceny-theft, (7) motor vehicle theft, and (8) arson, which was added in 1979.
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| status offense | An act that is illegal for a juvenile but would not be a crime if committed by an adult.
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| crime index offenses cleared | The number of offenses for which at least one person has been arrested, charged with the commission of the offense, and turned over to the court for prosecution.
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| national crime victimization surveys | A source of crime statistics based on interviews in which respondents are asked whether they have been victims of any of the FBI's index offenses (except murder, nonnegligent manslaughter, and arson) or other crimes during the past 6 months. If they have, they are asked to provide information about the experience.
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| self-report crime surveys | Surveys in which subjects are asked whether they have committed crimes.
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| theory | An assumption (or set of assumptions) that attempts to explain why or how things are related to each other.
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| criminological theory | The explanation of criminal behavior, as well as the behavior of police, attorneys, prosecutors, judges, correctional personnel, victims, and other actors in the criminal justice process.
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| classical theory | A product of the Enlightenment, based on the assumption that people exercise free will and are thus completely responsible for their actions. In classical theory, human behavior, including criminal behavior, is motivated by a hedonistic rationality, in which actors weigh the potential pleasure of an action against the possible pain associated with it.
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| utility | The principle that a policy should provide "the greatest happiness shared by the greatest number."
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| social contract | An imaginary agreement to sacrifice the minimum amount of liberty necessary to prevent anarchy and chaos.
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| general deterrence | The prevention of people in general or society at large from engaging in crime by punishing specific individuals and making examples of them.
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| neoclassical theory | A modification of classical theory in which it was conceded that certain factors, such as insanity, might inhibit the exercise of free will.
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| biological inferiority | According to biological theories, a criminal's innate physiological makeup produces certain physical or genetic characteristics that distinguish criminals from noncriminals.
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| criminal anthropology | The study of "criminal" human beings.
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| atavist | A person who reverts to a savage type.
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| limbic system | A structure surrounding the brain stem that, in part, controls the life functions of heartbeat, breathing, and sleep. It also is believed to moderate expressions of violence; such emotions as anger, rage, and fear; and sexual response.
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| psychopaths, sociopaths, or antisocial personalities | Persons characterized by no sense of guilt, no subjective conscience, and no sense of right and wrong. They have difficulty in forming relationships with other people; they cannot empathize with other people.
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| collective conscience | The general sense of morality of the times.
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| Chicago School | A group of sociologists at the University of Chicago who assumed in their research that delinquent behavior was a product of social disorganization.
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| social disorganization | The condition in which the usual controls over delinquents are largely absent, delinquent behavior is often approved of by parents and neighbors, there are many opportunities for delinquent behavior, and there is little encouragement, training, or opportunity for legitimate employment.
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| anomie | For Merton, the contradiction between the cultural goal of achieving wealth and the social structure's inability to provide legitimate institutional means for achieving the goal. For Cohen, it is caused by the inability of juveniles to achieve status among peers by socially acceptable means.
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| imitation or modeling | A means by which a person can learn new responses by observing others without performing any overt act or receiving direct reinforcement or reward.
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| differential association | Sutherland's theory that persons who become criminal do so because of contacts with criminal patterns and isolation from anticriminal patterns.
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| learning theory | A theory that explains criminal behavior and its prevention with the concepts of positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, extinction, punishment, and modeling or imitation.
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| positive reinforcement | The presentation of a stimulus that increases or maintains a response.
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| negative reinforcement | The removal or reduction of a stimulus whose removal or reduction increases or maintains a response.
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| extinction | A process in which behavior that previously was positively reinforced is no longer reinforced.
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| punishment | The presentation of an aversive stimulus to reduce a response.
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| social control theory | A view in which people are expected to commit crime and delinquency unless they are prevented from doing so.
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| labeling theory | A theory that emphasizes the criminalization process as the cause of some crime.
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| criminalization process | The way people and actions are defined as criminal.
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| conflict theory | A theory that assumes that society is based primarily on conflict between competing interest groups and that criminal law and the criminal justice system are used to control subordinate groups. Crime is caused by relative powerlessness.
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| power differentials | The ability of some groups to dominate other groups in a society.
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| relative powerlessness | In conflict theory, the inability to dominate other groups in society.
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| radical theories | Theories of crime causation that are generally based on a Marxist theory of class struggle.
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| class struggle | For radical criminologists, the competition among wealthy people and among poor people and between rich people and poor people, which causes crime.
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| left realists | A group of social scientists who argue that critical criminologists need to redirect their attention to the fear and the very real victimization experienced by working-class people.
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| relative deprivation | refers to inequalities (in resources, opportunities, material goods, etc.) that are defined by a person as unfair or unjust.
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| peacemaking criminology | An approach that suggests that the solutions to all social problems, including crime, are the transformation of human beings, mutual dependence, reduction of class structures, the creation of communities of caring people, and universal social justice. Peacemaking criminologists advocate restorative justice, compassion, and community action.
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| feminist theory | A perspective on criminality that focuses on women's experiences and seeks to abolish men's control over women's labor and sexuality.
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| patriarchy | Men's control over women's labor and sexuality.
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| postmodernism | An area of critical thought that, among other things, attempts to understand the creation of knowledge, and how knowledge and language create hierarchy and domination.
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| criminal law | One of two general types of law practiced in the United States (the other is civil law); "a formal means of social control [that uses] rules ... interpreted [and enforced] by the courts ... to set limits to the conduct of the citizens, to guide the officials, and to define ... unacceptable behavior."
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| penal code | The criminal law of a political jurisdiction.
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| tort | A violation of the civil law.
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| civil law | One of two general types of law practiced in the United States (the other is criminal law); a means of resolving conflicts between individuals. It includes personal injury claims (torts), the law of contracts and property, and subjects such as administrative law and the regulation of public utilities.
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| substantive law | The body of law that defines criminal offenses and their penalties.
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| procedural law | The body of law that governs the ways substantive laws are administered; sometimes called adjective or remedial law.
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| politicality | An ideal characteristic of criminal law, referring to its legitimate source. Only violations of rules made by the state, the political jurisdiction that enacted the laws, are crimes.
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| specificity | An ideal characteristic of criminal law, referring to its scope. Although civil law may be general in scope, criminal law should provide strict definitions of specific acts.
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| regularity | An ideal characteristic of criminal law: the applicability of the law to all persons, regardless of social status.
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| uniformity | An ideal characteristic of criminal law: the enforcement of the laws against anyone who violates them, regardless of social status.
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| penal sanction | An ideal characteristic of criminal law: the principle that violators will be punished or at least threatened with punishment by the state.
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| precedent | A decision that forms a potential basis for deciding the outcomes of similar cases in the future; a by-product of decisions made by trial and appellate court judges, who produce case law whenever they render a decision in a particular case.
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| stare decisis | The principle of using precedents to guide future decisions in court cases; Latin for "to stand by decided cases."
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| searches | Explorations or inspections, by law enforcement officers, of homes, premises, vehicles, or persons, for the purpose of discovering evidence of crimes or persons who are accused of crimes.
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| seizures | The taking of persons or property into custody in response to violations of the criminal law.
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| warrant | A written order from a court directing law enforcement officers to conduct a search or to arrest a person.
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| arrest | The seizure of a person or the taking of a person into custody, either actual physical custody, as when a suspect is handcuffed by a police officer, or constructive custody, as when a person peacefully submits to a police officer's control.
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| contraband | An illegal substance or object.
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| mere suspicion | The standard of proof with the least certainty; a "gut feeling." With mere suspicion, a law enforcement officer cannot legally even stop a suspect.
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| reasonable suspicion | A standard of proof that is more than a gut feeling. It includes the ability to articulate reasons for the suspicion. With reasonable suspicion, a law enforcement officer is legally permitted to stop and frisk a suspect.
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| frisking | Conducting a search for weapons by patting the outside of a suspect's clothing, feeling for hard objects that might be weapons.
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| preponderance of evidence | Evidence that more likely than not outweighs the opposing evidence, or sufficient evidence to overcome doubt or speculation.
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| clear and convincing evidence | The standard of proof required in some civil cases and, in federal courts, the standard of proof necessary for a defendant to make a successful claim of insanity.
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| beyond a reasonable doubt | The standard of proof necessary to find a defendant guilty in a criminal trial.
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| exclusionary rule | The rule that illegally seized evidence must be excluded from trials in federal courts.
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| double jeopardy | The trying of a defendant a second time for the same offense when jeopardy attached in the first trial and a mistrial was not declared.
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| self-incrimination | Being a witness against oneself. If forced, it is a violation of the Fifth Amendment.
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| confession | An admission by a person accused of a crime that he or she committed the offense charged.
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| doctrine of fundamental fairness | The rule that makes confessions inadmissible in criminal trials if they were obtained by means of either psychological manipulation or "third-degree" methods.
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| venue | The place of the trial. It must be geographically appropriate.
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| subpoena | A written order issued by a court that requires a person to appear at a certain time and place to give testimony. It can also require that documents and objects be made available for examination by the court.
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| tithing system | A private self-help protection system in early medieval England, in which a group of 10 families, or a tithing, agreed to follow the law, keep the peace in their areas, and bring law violators to justice.
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| shire reeve | In medieval England, the chief law enforcement officer in a territorial area called a shire; later called the sheriff.
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| posses | Groups of able-bodied citizens of a community, called into service by a sheriff or constable to chase and apprehend offenders.
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| constable-watch system | A system of protection in early England in which citizens, under the direction of a constable, or chief peacekeeper, were required to guard the city and to pursue criminals.
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| constable | The peacekeeper in charge of protection in early English towns.
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| Peel's Principles of Policing | A dozen standards proposed by Robert Peel, the author of the legislation resulting in the formation of the London Metropolitan Police Department. The standards are still applicable to today's law enforcement.
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| slave patrols | The earliest form of policing in the South. They were a product of the slave codes.
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| community policing | A contemporary approach to policing that actively involves the community in a working partnership to control and reduce crime.
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| state police model | A model of state law enforcement services in which the agency and its officers have the same law enforcement powers as local police but can exercise them anywhere within the state.
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| highway patrol model | A model of state law enforcement services in which officers focus on highway traffic safety, enforcement of the state's traffic laws, and the investigation of accidents on the state's roads, highways, and property.
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| contract security | Protective services that a private security firm provides to people, agencies, and companies that do not employ their own security personnel or that need extra protection.
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| proprietary security | In-house protective services that a security staff provides for the entity that employs it.
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| role | The rights and responsibilities associated with a particular position in society.
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| role expectation | The behavior and actions that people expect from a person in a particular role.
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| role conflict | The psychological stress and frustration that results from trying to perform two or more incompatible responsibilities.
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| operational styles | The different overall approaches to the police job.
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| preventive patrol | Patrolling the streets with little direction; between responses to radio calls, officers are "systematically unsystematic" and observant in an attempt to both prevent and ferret out crime. Also known as random patrol.
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| directed patrol | Patrolling under guidance or orders on how to use patrol time.
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| GIS crime mapping | A technique that involves the charting of crime patterns within a geographic area.
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| aggressive patrol | The practice of having an entire patrol section make numerous traffic stops and field interrogations.
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| field interrogation | A temporary detention in which officers stop and question pedestrians and motorists they find in suspicious circumstances.
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| cybercrime | The use of computer technology to commit crime.
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| traffic accident investigation crews | In some agencies, the special units assigned to all traffic accident investigations.
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| terrorism | The systematic use of terror or unpredictable violence against governments, publics, or individuals to attain a political objective; the unlawful use of force and violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives; or premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents, usually intended to influence an audience.
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| domestic terrorism | The unlawful use, or threatened use, of force or violence by a group or individual based and operating entirely within the United States or its territories without foreign direction committed against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives.
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| international terrorism | Violent acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or any state, or that would be a criminal violation if committed within the jurisdiction of the United States or any state. These acts appear to be intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population, influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion, or affect the conduct of a government by assassination or kidnapping. International terrorist acts occur outside the United States or transcend national boundaries in terms of the means by which they are accomplished, the persons they appear intended to coerce or intimidate, or the locale in which the perpetrators operate or seek asylum.
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| three I's of police selection | Three qualities of the American police officer that seem to be of paramount importance: intelligence, integrity, and interaction skills.
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| college academies | Schools where students pursue a program that integrates an associate's degree curriculum in law enforcement or criminal justice with the state's required peace officer training.
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| public safety officers | Police department employees who perform many police services but do not have arrest powers.
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| police cadet program | A program that combines a college education with agency work experience and academy training. Upon graduation, a cadet is promoted to police officer.
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| tech prep (technical preparation) | A program in which area community colleges and high schools team up to offer 6 to 9 hours of college law enforcement courses in the eleventh and twelfth grades, as well as one or two training certifications, such as police dispatcher or local corrections officer. Students who graduate are eligible for police employment at age 18.
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| merit system | A system of employment whereby an independent civil service commission, in cooperation with the city personnel section and the police department, sets employment qualifications, performance standards, and discipline procedures.
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| discretion | The exercise of individual judgment, instead of formal rules, in making decisions.
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| full enforcement | A practice in which the police make an arrest for every violation of law that comes to their attention.
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| racial profiling | The stopping and/or detaining of individuals by law enforcement officers based solely on race.
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| job stress | The harmful physical and emotional outcomes that occur when the requirements of a job do not match the capabilities, resources, or needs of the worker.
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| copicide | A form of suicide in which a person gets fatally shot after intentionally provoking police officers.
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| excessive force | A measure of coercion beyond that necessary to control participants in a conflict.
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| "grass eaters" | Officers who occasionally engage in illegal and unethical activities, such as accepting small favors, gifts, or money for ignoring violations of the law during the course of their duties.
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| "meat eaters" | Officers who actively seek ways to make money illegally while on duty.
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| internal affairs investigations unit | The police unit that ferrets out illegal and unethical activity engaged in by the police.
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| dual court system | The court system in the United States, consisting of one system of state and local courts and another system of federal courts.
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| jurisdiction | The authority of a court to hear and decide cases.
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| original jurisdiction | The authority of a court to hear a case when it is first brought to court.
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| appellate jurisdiction | The power of a court to review a case for errors of law.
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| general jurisdiction | The power of a court to hear any type of case.
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| special jurisdiction | The power of a court to hear only certain kinds of cases.
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| subject matter jurisdiction | The power of a court to hear a particular type of case.
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| personal jurisdiction | A court's authority over the parties to a lawsuit.
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| writ of certiorari | A written order, from the U.S. Supreme Court to a lower court whose decision is being appealed, to send the records of the case forward for review.
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| writ of habeas corpus | An order from a court to an officer of the law to produce a prisoner in court to determine if the prisoner is being legally detained or imprisoned.
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| summary or bench trials | Trials without a jury.
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| trial de novo | A trial in which an entire case is reheard by a trial court of general jurisdiction because there is an appeal and there is no written transcript of the earlier proceeding.
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| due process of law | The procedures followed by courts to ensure that a defendant's constitutional rights are not violated.
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| incapacitation | The removal or restriction of the freedom of those found to have violated criminal laws.
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| rehabilitation | The attempt to "correct" the personality and behavior of convicted offenders through educational, vocational, or therapeutic treatment and to return them to society as law-abiding citizens.
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| plea bargaining or plea negotiating | The practice whereby the prosecutor, the defense attorney, the defendant, and—in many jurisdictions—the judge agree on a specific sentence to be imposed if the accused pleads guilty to an agreed-upon charge or charges instead of going to trial.
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| rules of discovery | Rules that mandate that a prosecutor provide defense counsel with any exculpatory evidence (evidence favorable to the accused that has an effect on guilt or punishment) in the prosecutor's possession.
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| information | A document that outlines the formal charge or charges, the law or laws that have been violated, and the evidence to support the charge or charges.
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| arrest warrant | A written order directing law enforcement officers to arrest a person. The charge or charges against a suspect are specified on the warrant.
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| bail bond/bail | Usually a monetary guarantee deposited with the court that is supposed to ensure that the suspect or defendant will appear at a later stage in the criminal justice process.
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| preventive detention | Holding suspects or defendants in jail without giving them an opportunity to post bail, because of the threat they pose to society.
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| bench warrant or capias | A document that authorizes a suspect's or defendant's arrest for not appearing in court as required.
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| release on own recognizance (ROR) | A release secured by a suspect's written promise to appear in court.
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| conditional release | A form of release that requires that a suspect/defendant maintain contact with a pretrial release program or undergo regular drug monitoring or treatment.
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| unsecured bond | An arrangement in which bail is set but no money is paid to the court.
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| preliminary hearing | A pretrial stage used in about one-half of all states and only in felony cases. Its purpose is for a judge to determine whether there is probable cause to support the charge or charges imposed by the prosecutor.
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| grand jury | Generally a group of 12 to 23 citizens who meet in closed sessions to investigate charges coming from preliminary hearings or to engage in other responsibilities. A primary purpose of the grand jury is to determine whether there is probable cause to believe that the accused committed the crime or crimes.
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| indictment | A document that outlines the charge or charges against a defendant.
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| subpoena | A written order to testify issued by a court officer.
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| nolo contendere | Latin for "no contest." When defendants plead nolo, they do not admit guilt but are willing to accept punishment.
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| bench trial | A trial before a judge without a jury.
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| venire | The pool from which jurors are selected.
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| voir dire | The process in which potential jurors who might be biased or unable to render a fair verdict are screened out.
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| hung jury | The result when jurors cannot agree on a verdict. The judge declares a mistrial. The prosecutor must decide whether to retry the case.
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| restitution | Money paid or services provided by a convicted offender to victims, their survivors, or the community to make up for the injury inflicted.
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| indeterminate sentence | A sentence with a fixed minimum and maximum term of incarceration, rather than a set period.
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| determinate sentence | A sentence with a fixed period of incarceration, which eliminates the decision-making responsibility of parole boards.
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| flat-time sentencing | Sentencing in which judges may choose between probation and imprisonment but have little discretion in setting the length of a prison sentence. Once an offender is imprisoned, there is no possibility of reduction in the length of the sentence.
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| good time | The number of days deducted from a sentence by prison authorities for good behavior or for other reasons.
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| mandatory sentencing | Sentencing in which a specified number of years of imprisonment (usually within a range) is provided for particular crimes.
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| presumptive sentencing | Sentencing that allows a judge to retain some sentencing discretion, subject to appellate review. The legislature determines a sentence range for each crime.
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| criminal sanctions or criminal punishment | Penalties that are imposed for violating the criminal law.
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| retribution | A justification for punishment that implies repayment for an offense committed.
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| revenge | The punishment rationale expressed by the biblical phrase, "An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth." People who seek revenge want to pay back offenders by making them suffer for what they have done.
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| just deserts | The punishment rationale based on the idea that offenders should be punished automatically, simply because they have committed a crime—they "deserve" it—and the idea that the punishment should fit the crime.
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| special or specific deterrence | The prevention of individuals from committing crimes again by punishing them.
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| victim-impact statements | Descriptions of the harm and suffering that a crime has caused victims and their survivors.
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| presentence investigation reports | Reports, often called PSIs or PSIRs, that are used in the federal system and the majority of states to help judges determine the appropriate sentence. They are also used in classifying probationers, parolees, and prisoners according to their treatment needs and security risk.
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| allocution | The procedure at a sentencing hearing in which the convicted defendant has the right to address the court before the sentence is imposed. During allocution, a defendant is identified as the person found guilty and has a right to deny or explain information contained in the PSI if his or her sentence is based on it.
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| pardon | A "forgiveness" for the crime committed that stops further criminal processing.
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| bifurcated trial | A two-stage trial (unlike the one-stage trial in other felony cases) consisting of a guilt phase and a separate penalty phase.
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| aggravating factors | In death sentencing, circumstances that make a crime worse than usual.
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| mitigating factors | In death sentencing, circumstances that make a crime less severe than usual.
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| proportionality review | A review in which the appellate court compares the sentence in the case it is reviewing with penalties imposed in similar cases in the state. The object is to reduce, as much as possible, disparity in death penalty sentencing.
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| commutations | Reductions in sentences, granted by a state's governor.
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| banishment | A punishment, originating in ancient times, that required offenders to leave the community and live elsewhere, commonly in the wilderness.
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| transportation | A punishment in which offenders were transported from their home nation to one of that nation's colonies to work.
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| workhouses | European forerunners of the modern U.S. prison, where offenders were sent to learn discipline and regular work habits.
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| penology | The study of prison management and the treatment of offenders.
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| panopticon | A prison design consisting of a round building with tiers of cells lining the inner circumference and facing a central inspection tower.
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| Pennsylvania system | An early system of U.S. penology in which inmates were kept in solitary cells so that they could study religious writings, reflect on their misdeeds, and perform handicraft work.
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| Auburn system | An early system of penology, originating at Auburn Penitentiary in New York, in which inmates worked and ate together in silence during the day and were placed in solitary cells for the evening.
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| medical model | A theory of institutional corrections, popular during the 1940s and 1950s, in which crime was seen as symptomatic of personal illness in need of treatment.
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| shock incarceration | The placement of offenders in facilities patterned after military boot camps.
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| incarceration rate | A figure derived by dividing the number of people incarcerated by the population of the area and multiplying the result by 100,000; used to compare incarceration levels of units with different population sizes.
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| classification facility | A facility to which newly sentenced offenders are taken so that their security risks and needs can be assessed and they can be assigned to a permanent institution.
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| security level | A designation applied to a facility to describe the measures taken, both inside and outside, to preserve security and custody.
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| custody level | The classification assigned to an inmate to indicate the degree of precaution that needs to be taken when working with that inmate.
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| cocorrectional facilities | Usually small, minimum-security institutions that house both men and women with the goal of normalizing the prison environment by integrating the daytime activities of the sexes.
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| lockup | A very short-term holding facility that is frequently located in or very near an urban police agency so that suspects can be held pending further inquiry.
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| jail | A facility, usually operated at the local level, that holds convicted offenders and unconvicted persons for relatively short periods.
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| protective custody | The segregation of inmates for their own safety.
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| administrative segregation | The keeping of inmates in secure isolation so that they cannot harm others.
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| conjugal visits | An arrangement whereby inmates are permitted to visit in private with their spouses or significant others to maintain their personal relationship.
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| snitch system | A system in which staff learn from inmate informants about the presence of contraband, the potential for disruptions, and other threats to security.
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| milieu therapy | A variant of group therapy that encompasses the total living environment so that the environment continually encourages positive behavioral change.
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| crisis intervention | A counselor's efforts to address some crisis in an inmate's life and to calm the inmate.
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| less-eligibility principle | The position that prisoners should receive no service or program superior to the services and programs available to free citizens without charge.
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| total institution | An institutional setting in which persons sharing some characteristics are cut off from the wider society and expected to live according to institutional rules and procedures.
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| convict code | A constellation of values, norms, and roles that regulate the way inmates interact with one another and with prison staff.
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| deprivation model | A theory that the inmate society arises as a response to the prison environment and the painful conditions of confinement.
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| prisonization | The process by which an inmate becomes socialized into the customs and principles of the inmate society.
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| importation model | A theory that the inmate society is shaped by the attributes inmates bring with them when they enter prison.
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| sub-rosa economy | The secret exchange of goods and services among inmates; the black market of the prison.
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| hands-off philosophy | A philosophy under which courts are reluctant to hear prisoners' claims regarding their rights while incarcerated.
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| habeas corpus | A court order requiring that a confined person be brought to court so that his or her claims can be heard.
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| jailhouse lawyer | An inmate skilled in legal matters.
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| commutation | Reduction of the original sentence given by executive authority, usually a state's governor.
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| mandatory release | A method of prison release under which an inmate is released after serving a legally required portion of his or her sentence, minus good-time credits.
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| recidivism | The return to illegal activity after release from incarceration.
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| community corrections | The subfield of corrections in which offenders are supervised and provided services outside jail or prison.
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| probation | A sentence in which the offender, rather than being incarcerated, is retained in the community under the supervision of a probation agency and required to abide by certain rules and conditions to avoid incarceration.
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| diversion | Organized, systematic efforts to remove individuals from further processing in criminal justice by placing them in alternative programs; diversion may be pretrial or posttrial.
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| presentence investigation (PSI) | An investigation conducted by a probation agency or other designated authority at the request of a court into the past behavior, family circumstances, and personality of an adult who has been convicted of a crime, to assist the court in determining the most appropriate sentence.
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| probation conditions | Rules that specify what an offender is and is not to do during the course of a probation sentence.
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| revocation | The repeal of a probation sentence or parole, and substitution of a more restrictive sentence, because of violation of probation or parole conditions.
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| technical violations | Failure to abide by the technical rules or conditions of probation or parole (for example, not reporting regularly to the probation officer), as distinct from commission of a new criminal act.
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| parole | A method of prison release whereby inmates are released at the discretion of a board or other authority before having completed their entire sentences; can also refer to the community supervision received upon release.
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| parole guidelines | Structured instruments used to estimate the probability of parole recidivism and to direct the release decisions of parole boards.
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| reintegration | The process of rebuilding former ties to the community and establishing new ties after release from prison.
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| intermediate sanctions | Sanctions that, in restrictiveness and punitiveness, lie between traditional probation and traditional imprisonment or, alternatively, between imprisonment and traditional parole.
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| intensive-supervision probation and parole (ISP) | An alternative to incarceration that provides stricter conditions, closer supervision, and more treatment services than do traditional probation and parole.
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| net widening | A phenomenon that occurs when the offenders placed in a novel program are not the offenders for whom the program was designed. The consequence is that those in the program receive more severe sanctions than they would have received had the new program remained unavailable.
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| day reporting centers | Facilities that are designed for offenders who would otherwise be in prison or jail and that require offenders to report regularly to confer with staff about supervision and treatment matters.
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| structured fines, or day fines | Fines that are based on defendants' ability to pay.
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| home confinement | A program that requires offenders to remain in their homes except for approved periods of absence; commonly used in combination with electronic monitoring.
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| electronic monitoring | An arrangement that allows an offender's whereabouts to be gauged through the use of computer technology.
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| halfway houses | Community-based residential facilities that are less secure and restrictive than prison or jail but provide a more controlled environment than other community correctional programs.
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| temporary-release programs | Programs that allow jail or prison inmates to leave the facility for short periods to participate in approved community activities.
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| apprenticeship system | The method by which middle- and upper-class children were taught skilled trades by a master.
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| binding-out system | Practice in which children were "bound over" to masters for care. However, under the binding-out system, masters were not required to teach youths a trade.
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| houses of refuge | The first specialized correctional institutions for youths in the United States.
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| placing out | The practice of placing children on farms in the Midwest and West to remove them from the supposedly corrupting influences of their parents and the cities.
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| reform, industrial, or training schools | Correctional facilities for youths, first developed in the late 1800s, that focused on custody. Today, those institutions are often called training schools and although they may place more emphasis on treatment, they still rely on custody and control.
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| cottage reformatories | Correctional facilities for youths, first developed in the late 1800s, that were intended to closely parallel family life and remove children from the negative influences of the urban environment. Children in those facilities lived with surrogate parents, who were responsible for the youths' training and education.
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| parens patriae | The legal philosophy justifying state intervention in the lives of children when their parents are unable or unwilling to protect them.
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| adjudication | The juvenile court equivalent of a trial in criminal court, or the process of rendering a judicial decision regarding the truth of the facts alleged in a petition.
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| informal juvenile justice | The actions taken by citizens to respond to juvenile offenders without involving the official agencies of juvenile justice.
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| status offenses | Acts that are not crimes when committed by adults but are illegal for minors (for example, truancy or running away from home).
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| radical nonintervention | A practice based on the idea that youths should be left alone if at all possible, instead of being formally processed.
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| intake screening | The process by which decisions are made about the continued processing of juvenile cases. Decisions might include dismissing the case, referring the youth to a diversion program, or filing a petition.
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| petition | A legal form of the police complaint that specifies the charges to be heard at the adjudication.
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| transfer, waiver, or certification | The act or process by which juveniles who meet specific age, offense, and (in some jurisdictions) prior-record criteria are transferred to criminal court for trial.
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| hearing officer | A lawyer empowered by the juvenile court to hear juvenile cases.
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| disposition | The juvenile court equivalent of sentencing in criminal court. At the disposition hearing, the court makes its final determination of what to do with the juvenile officially labeled delinquent.
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| bionics | The replacing of human body parts with mechanical parts.
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| mediation | A dispute resolution process that brings disputants together with a third party (a mediator) who is trained in the art of helping people resolve disputes to everyone's satisfaction. The agreed-upon resolution is then formalized into a binding consent agreement.
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| arbitration | A dispute resolution process that brings disputants together with a third party (an arbitrator) who has the skills to listen objectively to evidence presented by both sides of a conflict, to ask probing and relevant questions of each side, and to arrive at an equitable solution to the dispute.
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| restorative justice | A process whereby an offender is required to contribute to restoring the health of the community, repairing the harm done, and meeting victims' needs.
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| reintegrative shaming | A strategy in which disappointment is expressed for the offender's actions, the offender is shamed and punished, and, more importantly, following the expression of disappointment and shame is a concerted effort on the part of the community to forgive the offender and reintegrate him or her back into society.
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| cryonics | A process of human hibernation that involves freezing the body.
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| identity theft | The transfer or use without legal authority of the identification documentation of another person with the intent to commit, aid, or abet any unlawful activity that constitutes a felony.
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