• Dismissals with prejudice - no reopening of case
• Dismissals without prejudice - case could be reopened

• By Jury Jury trial resulting in a not guilty verdict

   

• By Court Nonjury trial or acquittal pronounced by court notwithstanding jury verdict.

The usual purpose in stopping criminal proceedings short of judgment is avoidance of the undesirable effects of conviction, which effects can include both unnecessary harm to the offender and unnecessary expense or harm to the public interest. "Withholding adjudication," as defined here, places the subject in a status where the court retains jurisdiction but will not re-open proceedings unless the person violates a condition of behavior.

"Adjudication withheld" is an important category of defendant dispositions. The term is here defined for statistical use to account for those cases which receive what is sometimes effectively a sentencing disposition but one occurring without conviction. In court caseload data, this category is recognized, but is often combined for presentation in a single category with convictions.

In defendant flow data and statistics concerning the general budgetary impact of court decisions, "adjudication withheld" dispositions should be subdivided by the accompanying status change or program placement: (1) referral to probation or other criminal justice agency, (2) referral to a non-criminal justice agency, and (3) no referral.

See defendant dispositions. See also diversion.

In general usage the term "appeal" has no fixed meaning. It is variously defined in statutes respecting appellate procedure. "Appeal" can stand for a type of case, a type of proceeding, or all the post-trial proceedings relating to a given case. For recommended statistical terminology in this area of court activity see appeal case, request to appeal case, sentence review, and appellate court case.

The rules governing circumstances in which an appeal is permitted, and in which a hearing is guaranteed, are complex and differ somewhat from state to state. They vary according to the type of case (e.g., criminal vs. civil), whether the appeal is by the defendant or by the plaintiff or prosecution, and the specific grounds for appeal.

This term has a formal status in management systems for allocating prosecutorial resources and setting priorities in case scheduling in order that defendants and cases warranting special attention be dealt with effectively and speedily. The exact definition varies among different agencies.

Professional criminal is a popular name for a person who has made crime his or her livelihood, that is, a person who depends upon criminal activities for at least a substantial portion of his or her income, and who has developed special, related skills.

Statutorily defined habitual offenders fit the definition of "career criminal."

1. In general usage, the action of a judicial officer or administrative body ordering a person to be placed in an institution or program for custody, treatment or protection, usually one administered by a health service.
    
2. (recommended criminal justice statistical terminology) A non-penal commitment to a treatment facility resulting from findings made during criminal proceedings, either before or after a judgment.

Grounds for clemency include mitigating circumstances, post-conviction evidence of innocence, dubious guilt, illness of prisoner, reformation, services to the state, turning state's evidence, reasons of state, the need to restore civil rights, and corrections of unduly severe sentences or injustices stemming from imperfections in penal law or the application of it.

The chief forms of clemency are pardons (full and conditional), amnesties, commutations, reduced sentences, reprieves and remissions of fines and forfeitures. In actual use the meanings of these terms overlap. For example, in some jurisdictions a particular kind of pardon may be called "executive clemency," or a given kind of commutation a "pardon." Informational definitions emphasizing the basic distinctions that are usually, but not always, made are as follows:

Full pardon - An executive act completely and unconditionally absolving a person from all consequences of a crime and conviction. This act is sometimes called an "absolute pardon," and can imply that guilt itself is "blotted out." It is an "act of forgiveness" and is accompanied, generally, by restoration of civil rights. American law tends to use this executive remedy, instead of judicial proceedings, when serious doubt of guilt or evidence of innocence arises after conviction.

Conditional Pardon - An executive act releasing a person from punishment, contingent upon his or her performance or non-performance of specified acts.

Amnesty - A kind of pardon granted by a sovereign authority, often before any indictment, trial or conviction, to a group of persons who have committed offenses against the government, which not only frees them from punishment, but has the effect of removing all legal recognition that the offenses occurred. A "pardon" is distinct from an amnesty in that the former applies to only one person, and does not necessarily include the abolition of all legal recognition that the offense occurred. An amnesty is sometimes called a "general pardon" because it applies to all offenders of a given class, or all offenses against a given statute or during a certain time period. The sovereign authority may be executive or legislative.

Commutation (of sentence) - An executive act changing a punishment from a greater to a lesser penalty; in correctional usage, a reduction of the term of confinement resulting in immediate release or reduction of remaining time to be served; also, the change from a sentence of death to a term of imprisonment. Commutation does not, generally, connote "forgiveness." It is often used to shorten an excessively and unusually long sentence. Commutation can occur with respect to groups of prisoners, though with a different impact on the term of confinement of each single prisoner.

Reduced sentence - A sentence to confinement of which the time duration has been shortened by judicial action; also, a reduced fine or other material penalty. Reduction of sentence can occur at many process points, beginning with the sentencing disposition after conviction.

Reprieve - An executive act temporarily suspending the execution of a sentence, usually a death sentence. A reprieve differs from other suspensions of sentence not only in that it almost always applies to temporary withdrawing of death sentence, but also in that it is usually an act of clemency intended to provide the prisoner with time to secure amelioration of the sentence.

See "terminations" under prison/parole population movement, for data terminology for clemency actions.

In this terminology the class "condition release" includes only those in states where return to a prison can occur at the discretion of an executive agency (usually, a paroling authority) if the subject violated the stated conditions of behavior. Releases by judicial authority, with return, if any, also decided by court action, are not members of this class. These latter are final exits from the state corrections perspective, since all corrections agency jurisdiction over the subject is terminated.

Conditional releases are defined here consist mainly of releases to parole and mandatory supervised releases. They are in contrast to the category provisional exits where return is expected. They are also in contrast to exits from prison to probation supervision by a state agency and releases to probation administered directly by a court. The latter is usually treated as a final prison/parole system exit in state data.

See parole agency caseload entries and removals and prison/parole population movement for the uses of these categories in data structures.

This term is used with various meanings in criminal justice statistical publications, often without definition. Its use without qualifications is not recommended. Preferred terms are listed under defendant dispositions, parole agency caseload entries and removals, probation supervisory population movement and prison/parole population movement.

A "discharge" from prison or parole is most often, though not always, understood to mean a final separation from the jurisdiction of the correctional agency. "Discharge" from probation may mean a satisfactory termination or a revocation o the probation status (see preferred terms as above). In court disposition data some kinds of sentencing dispositions are sometimes called "conditional discharges," meaning that the persons are released from punishment contingent upon fulfilling obligations stated by the court. See also suspended sentence.

1. In judicial proceedings generally, the disposal of an action, suit, motion or the like without trial of the issues; the termination of the adjudication of a case before the case reaches judgment.
    
2. (recommended criminal justice statistical terminology) - The decision by a court to terminate adjudication of all outstanding charges in a criminal case, or all outstanding charges against a given defendant in a criminal case, thus terminating court action in the case and permanently or provisionally terminating court jurisdiction over the defendant in relation to those charges.

1. In the broadest usage, any procedure which (a) substitutes non-entry for official entry into the justice process, or (b) substitutes the suspension of criminal or juvenile proceedings for continuation, or (c) substitutes lesser supervision or referral to a non-justice agency or no supervision status for confinement.
    
2. Standards and Goals definition: The official suspension of criminal or juvenile proceedings against an alleged offender at any point after a recorded justice system intake but before the entering of a judgment, and referral of that person to a treatment or care program administered by a non-justice or private agency, or no referral.

 

• That adequate grounds for alleging the commission of an offense exist.

   

• That an official system entry be recorded (arrest, referral to juvenile intake agency or appearance in court).

   

• That judicial proceedings be halted or at least suspended after entry and before judgment.

   

• That the alternative to continuation of proceedings be referral to non-justice supervision of treatment, or no referral.

Briefly, "habitual offenders" are persons punishable by statutory prescription on the basis of a previous separate conviction(s) in addition to the current conviction. The exact meaning of the term varies among jurisdictions depending on the type and number of crimes for which repeated convictions qualify the offender as "habitual."

In popular speech "habitual criminal" and terms such as "professional criminal" are used interchangeably, but the latter has no legal standing. The terms "career criminal" and "repeat offender," however, are acquiring formal status through official use in criminal justice policy statements and program descriptions. See career criminal.

In some jurisdictions, a statutorily defined habitual offender is called a "multiple offender."

See also recidivist.

This is a type of defendant disposition (see entry).

When a court finds that a given defendant is incompetent to stand trial, criminal proceedings against that defendant are suspended until such time as the defendant may be found competent. Frequently, the court will order periodic examination of the defendant to determine whether competency has been regained.

A plea or finding that a defendant is not guilty by reason of insanity differs from a finding that a defendant is "incompetent to stand trial." The former is a defense to prosecution on the grounds that the defendant was mentally incompetent at the time that an alleged crime was committed. The latter concerns only the defendant's mental fitness at the time of trial, and is not related to any determination of guilt. See capacity.

A finding of "incompetent to stand trial" can be followed by a civil commitment (see entry).

In most jurisdictions misdemeanors are one of the two major classes of crimes, the other being felonies. See felony for additional information about the usage of these terms and recommendations concerning the use of this terminology in statistics.

See infraction for recommended usage concerning offenses for which incarceration is not a permitted penalty, or for which the period of incarceration is extremely short.

1. A formal entry upon the record of the court, indicating that the prosecutor declares that he or she will proceed no further in the action.
2. (recommended statistical terminology) - The terminating of adjudication of a criminal charge by the prosecutor's decision not to pursue the case, in some jurisdictions requiring the approval of the court.

1. Initial plea (also first plea ) - (recommended statistical terminology) - The first plea to a given charge entered in the court record by or for the defendant. The acceptance of an initial plea by the court unambiguously indicates that the arraignment process has been completed, and is therefore a better unit of count in reporting criminal case or defendant flow than "arraignment," which as a process is variously defined in different jurisdictions.

    

    

2. Final plea - (recommended statistical terminology) - The last plea to a given charge entered in the court record by or for the defendant.

    

1. Not guilty plea - (recommended statistical terminology) - A defendant's formal answer in court to the charge(s) contained in a complaint, information, or indictment, claiming that he or she did not commit the offense(s) listed.

    

2. Not guilty by reason of insanity - (recommended statistical terminology) - A defendant's formal answer in court to the charge(s) contained in a complaint, information, or indictment, claiming that he or she is not legally accountable for the offenses listed in the charging document because insane at the time they were committed. See entry.

    

3. Guilty plea - (recommended statistical terminology) - A defendant's formal answer in court to the charge(s) contained in a complaint, information, or indictment, admitting that he or she did in fact commit the offense(s) listed.

    

4. Nolo contendere - (recommended statistical terminology) - A defendant's formal answer in court to the charge(s) contained in a complaint, information, or indictment, stating that he or she will not contest the charge(s), but neither admits guilt nor claims innocence.