CRJU Final Exam (9-12)

Administrative Punishment

Prison officials decide to punish you, not the courts or legal system

Administrative Segregation

Practice of isolating an inmate from the general prison population for reasons of institutional safety, rather than for punishment.

ADX Florence

The United States Penitentiary, Administrative Maximum Facility, a supermax federal prison.

• Extreme security measures and prolonged solitary confinement

Amicus Curiae

"friend of the court." This 'friend' is a person or organization offering the court additional information or perspective about the case.

Anti-Psychiatry Movement

a group that questions the legitimacy of standard psychiatric theory and practice, arguing that mental distress is not a medical condition but a human challenge

Baston v. Kentucky

Deemed it unconstitutional for a prosecutor to use peremptory challenges to exclude potential jurors solely based on their race.

Case in Chief

Prosecution presents the state's case

Categorical imperative

• A Cmoral rule stating that you should act only according to a principle that you could rationally want to become a universal law that applies to everyone, at all times

• Taking your actions and putting them back on you, you cannot complain because you have already made your choices.
  

Challenge for Cause

a request to a judge to dismiss a potential juror from a jury for a specific, valid reason that suggests they cannot be fair or impartial

Change of Venue

A legal request to move a trial from its original location to a different court jurisdiction, typically to ensure fairness by avoiding local bias, excessive media influence, or to better accommodate parties and witnesses.

Circumstantial Evidence

evidence that requires extra steps to understand, does not obviously prove anything

Civil Commitment

involves detaining individuals deemed a danger to themselves or others without a criminal conviction

Classification team

a group of experts that evaluates newly incarcerated people

Collateral consequences

How being sent to prison affects other people, not just the prisoners

• prison has an impact far beyond the person you send inside

Community corrections

 to deal with people who commit crimes, keep them in the communities so that more crime is not generated

• supervision and programs for offenders within the community, instead of prison

Corporal punishment

Makes you suffer physical pain, and then you are cleared and free to go

Directed Verdict

 Trial ends and the defendant walks

• a ruling entered by a trial judge after determining that there is no legally sufficient evidentiary basis for a reasonable jury to reach.

Discovery

Investigating the evidence that the other side plans to present

• The defense attorney wants to see the evidence the prosecution has

Diversion courts

offer an alternative to traditional prosecution, letting defendants (often first-timers with non-violent offenses) avoid a criminal conviction by completing specific programs like counseling, drug treatment, or community service,

Eastern State Penitentiary

Opened in 1829 as part of a controversial movement to change the behavior of people convicted of crimes through confinement in solitude with labor.

Friendly Witness

is a witness whose testimony is expected to support the side that called them to testify

General deterrence

discouraging the public at large from committing crimes by making an example out of those who are punished. The idea is that when people see others face consequences—like fines, jail time, or public sanctions—they will think twice before committing a similar offense.

Grand jury

a group of citizens who review evidence presented by a prosecutor to determine whether there is enough probable cause to formally charge someone with a crime. They do not decide guilt or innocence—only whether a criminal case should move forward with an indictment.

Hands-off Doctrine

a judicial approach where courts avoided getting involved in prison administration or inmate rights issues. Judges generally deferred to prison officials, assuming they were better suited to manage prisons and discipline.

Harmless error

a legal concept that refers to a mistake made during a trial that does not affect the outcome or the defendant’s rights in a significant way. If an appellate court finds that the error wouldn’t have changed the verdict, the conviction or decision is usually upheld.

Hearsay

a statement made outside of the courtroom that is offered in court to prove the truth of the matter asserted.

Holt v. Hobbs

The Court said prisons must accommodate religious practices—like a short beard—unless they can prove there's no other way to maintain safety.

Home Confinement

a form of punishment or pretrial restriction where a person is required to remain in their home instead of being incarcerated in jail or prison

Hostile witness

a witness who shows reluctance, bias, or antagonism toward the side that called them, and is not expected to give favorable testimony.

Humonetarianism

evaluating prisons by financial efficiency rather than justice or rehabilitation.
- hadar aviram

-prison reform is not being driven by respecting prisoners, but instead we should reduce the number of people in prison because it's a waste of money 

Immanuel Kant

Says human free will makes all the difference; choosing good or evil is unique to human beings, we are able to make choices

Incapacitation

a goal of the criminal justice system that focuses on preventing an offender from committing more crimes by restricting their freedom.

• makes it very hard to commit crime again

Indeterminate Sentencing

type of criminal sentence where the length of imprisonment is not fixed. Instead, it provides a range of time, and the exact release date depends on factors like behavior, rehabilitation progress, and decisions by a parole board.

• support rehabilitation by giving officials flexibility in deciding sentence length.

Indictment

a formal charge or accusation that a person has committed a crime, usually issued by a grand jury after reviewing evidence presented by a prosecutor. It does not determine guilt—it simply allows the case to proceed to trial.

Inmate Code

an unwritten set of rules or values that guides behavior among prisoners in a correctional facility. It reflects the norms and survival strategies of prison life, often emphasizing loyalty, toughness, and distrust of authorities.

Institutionalization

a process where a person becomes so accustomed to the structure, rules, and routines of an institution—like a prison, mental hospital, or long-term care facility—that they struggle to function outside of it.

Intensive Supervision

a form of strict probation or parole that closely monitors offenders in the community instead of sending them to prison. It’s designed for higher-risk offenders who need more oversight than typical probation.

Probation

a type of criminal sentence that allows an offender to remain in the community under court supervision instead of serving time in jail or prison. It is often granted for less serious crimes or for first-time offenders.

Leading the Witness

a type of question that suggests the answer or puts words in the witness’s mouth.

Mass Incarceration

extremely high rates of imprisonment in a country, especially when a large proportion of the population is behind bars. The term is often used to describe the U.S., where the prison population grew dramatically over the past few decades.

Megan’s Law

requires law enforcement to make information about registered s3x offenders available to the public

Motion to Dismiss

a formal request made by a defendant asking the court to throw out a case before it goes to trial. The defendant argues that, even if all the facts alleged by the prosecution or plaintiff are true, there is no legal basis for the case to continue.

Neoliberalism

economic and political ideology that emphasizes free markets, limited government intervention, privatization, and individual responsibility

• market-driven solutions over government control

Nolo Contendere

a Latin term meaning “no contest.” In criminal law, it is a plea in which a defendant does not admit guilt but also does not dispute the charges. The court treats it like a guilty plea for sentencing purposes, but it usually cannot be used as an admission of guilt in a related civil lawsuit.

Nullification

refers to the power of juries to acquit a defendant even if they believe she really is guilty of the crime.

• Due to the belief that the law is unjust, the punishment is too harsh, or the law is being unfairly applied.

Parole

the conditional release of a prisoner before completing their full sentence, allowing them to serve the remainder of their term under supervision in the community.

Peremptory Challenge

a tool used in jury selection that allows an attorney to remove a potential juror without giving a reason. Unlike challenges for cause, no proof of bias is needed, but there are limits on how many each side gets and they cannot be used to discriminate based on race or gender.

Petit jury

a group of citizens who hear evidence during a trial and then render a verdict of guilty or not guilty (in criminal cases) or decide liability (in civil cases).

• delivers the final verdict

Presentencing Investigation Report

a report prepared by a probation officer after a defendant is convicted, before sentencing, to help the judge determine an appropriate punishment.

Prison Labor Era

a period in U.S. history, roughly from the late 19th century through the mid-20th century, when prison labor was widely used as a major part of the correctional system.

• using work in the prison as a form of rehabilitation

Prison-Industrial Complex

all of the economic and political incentives for government are to put more people in prison to build more prisons, and to create more jobs. 

Probative Value

refers to the ability of a piece of evidence to prove something important in a case. Evidence with this makes a fact more or less likely to be true.

Protective Custody Unit

a special section within a prison designed to keep certain inmates safe from the general prison population. Inmates in this are separated because they may be vulnerable to harm from other prisoners.

Punitive Probation

a type of probation that emphasizes punishment rather than rehabilitation. While all probation involves supervision instead of incarceration, this is stricter and focuses on penalizing the offender for their crime.

Quakerism

a religious movement founded in the 17th century in England, officially known as the Religious Society of Friends. Emphasize peace, simplicity, equality, and inner spiritual experience rather than formal rituals or clergy.

Recidivism

the tendency of a convicted criminal to reoffend after being released from prison or completing a sentence. It is often used as a measure of how effective the criminal justice system is at rehabilitating offenders.

Restorative Justice

an approach to criminal justice that focuses on repairing the harm caused by a crime rather than simply punishing the offender. It emphasizes accountability, healing for victims, and reintegration of offenders into the community.

Retribution/Retributivism

a theory of punishment that focuses on giving offenders the punishment they deserve for the crimes they have committed. It is based on the principle of justice rather than rehabilitation or deterrence.

Reversible Error

mistake made during a trial that is serious enough to affect the outcome, giving the losing party grounds to appeal and potentially have the decision overturned.

Separate and Silent System

a method of prison management used in the 19th century, especially in Pennsylvania prisons, designed to rehabilitate inmates through isolation and reflection.

Slaves of the State

the legal status of incarcerated people until the 1960s

Specific Deterrence

a goal of criminal justice that aims to prevent an individual offender from committing future crimes by punishing them for their current offense.

Speculation

refers to a statement or testimony that is based on guesswork, conjecture, or personal opinion, rather than on direct knowledge, observation, or evidence. Courts generally do not allow this, because it is considered unreliable.

Supremacy Clause

resolves conflicts between federal and state law by giving federal law the final authority.

Textualism

a method of interpreting the law or the Constitution that focuses strictly on the ordinary meaning of the legal text at the time it was written, rather than considering intent, purpose, or broader societal consequences.

• sticking closely to the actual words of the law rather than looking beyond the text.

Thirteenth Amendment

abolished slavery and involuntary servitude in the United States, except as punishment for a crime.

Truth in Sentencing

refers to laws or policies that require offenders to serve a substantial portion of their prison sentence before being eligible for release, rather than being released early on parole or good behavior credits.

• making prison terms more predictable and ensuring offenders serve most of their court-imposed sentence.

Wolff v. McDonnell

confirmed that prisoners cannot be deprived of certain liberties, like good-time credits, without basic procedural safeguards, even though they are incarcerated.

• addressed the rights of prisoners

• gave due process

Victim Impact Statement

written or oral statement presented by a crime victim (or their family) during the sentencing phase of a trial. It describes the emotional, physical, and financial effects of the crime.

Victim-Offender Mediation

restorative justice process in which a victim and the offender meet, usually with a trained mediator, to discuss the crime, its impact, and ways to make amends.

Voir Dire

the process of questioning potential jurors to determine if they are suitable, fair, and unbiased before they are selected to serve on a jury.