Legal Terms and Sentencing Quiz

Legal Terms

• Bail: The release of an accused person from custody, conditionally, before or during prosecution, on their promise to appear in court.
• Initial Appearance: A court appearance where the legality of an arrest is assessed, and the accused is informed of charges.
• Bail Bond: A document guaranteeing a defendant's court appearance, pledging money or property as collateral.
• Property Bail: Setting bail using land, houses, stocks, or other tangible assets.
• Dangerousness Standard: A legal standard intended to prevent the pretrial release of defendants deemed a danger to the community.

Sentencing and Corrections

• Sanction: The imposition of a criminal penalty by a judicial authority.
• Incapacitation: Using imprisonment or other means to reduce future criminal acts.
• Retribution: Taking revenge on a criminal offender.
• Recidivism: Relapsing into criminal behaviour after sanctions or intervention.
• Restorative Justice: A sentencing goal aimed at repairing harm to victims and the community.
• Problem-Solving Courts: Specialized courts addressing recidivism, safety, and reintegration of offenders.
• Electronic Monitoring: Using technology to track offenders with house arrest or movement restrictions.
• House Arrest: Individuals confined to their homes, sometimes electronically monitored.
• Shock Probation: Sentencing an offender to prison, then granting release on probation, often unexpectedly.
• Caseload: The number of probation or parole clients supervised by a single officer.
• Correctional Facility: A state or federal institution holding inmates.
• Industrial Prison System: A correctional model using inmate labor.
• Ashurst-Sumners Act: Federal legislation restricting interstate commerce in prison-made goods from the 1930s.
• Work Release: A prison program permitting temporary release to fulfill job responsibilities.
• Martinson Report: A report arguing that correctional treatment programs have minimal success in rehabilitating offenders.
• Total Institution: A facility isolating inmates from society, controlling all aspects of their lives.
• Inmate Culture: The values and behaviors typical of prison inmates.
• Security Threat Group: A prison gang or group threatening staff, inmates, or prison order.
• Hands-Off Doctrine: A policy of minimal court involvement in prison management.
• Grievance Procedure: A formalized system giving inmates a chance to file complaints.
• Juvenile Court Petition: A document in juvenile court alleging delinquency, status offense, or dependency, requesting court intervention.
• Blackness: A complex social and historical concept encapsulating the African American experience in America.
• System-Involved Youth: Young people who have interacted with both child welfare and juvenile justice systems.
• Status Offense: A violation of the law applicable only to juveniles.
• Delinquent Act: A juvenile's criminal act.
• Child Abuse: Physical, sexual, or mental abuse of a child.
• Beyond Parental Control: Juvenile disobedience of authorities (schools, etc.).
• Juvenile Delinquency (Broadly): Juvenile actions that break criminal law or other juvenile rules.
• Juvenile Justice System: The government agencies handling youth offending and care.
• Adjudicated Youth: Youth charged with or found guilty of crimes.
• Parens Patriae: A principle allowing state intervention when a natural parent cannot or will not care for a child/juvenile.
• Just Deserts Model: A contemporary imprisonment model emphasizing just punishment.
• Design Capacity: The intended inmate count of a prison.
• Operational Capacity: The safe and effective inmate holding limit of a prison.
• Management Capacity: The inmates a prison can hold based on management and personnel considerations.
• Expert Capacity: The maximum inmate number according to expert judgment.
• Selective Incapacitation: Targeting and incarcerating the most dangerous criminals.
• Custody Classification System: Method of assigning inmates to custody levels based on factors like assessed risk.
• Regional Jail: A jail funded and operated by multiple jurisdictions.
• Private Correctional Facility: A prison operated by a private company.
• Privatization of Prisons: The trend towards wider use of private prisons.
• Plea Bargaining: Negotiating a plea and sentence in a criminal case.
• Plea: A defendant's formal response of guilty, not guilty, or no contest to a criminal charge.
• Rules of Evidence: Court rules dictating acceptable evidence in criminal hearings/trials.
• Sentencing: Imposition of criminal penalties by a judicial authority.

Juvenile Justice

• Youth: A term used to identify juveniles.
• Juvenile Acts: Juvenile conduct that breaks the law.
• Status Offense: Juvenile offenses tied to their status.