criminal law and procedure

health care fraud: an overview

Health care fraud is a type of white-collar crime that involves the filing of dishonest health care claims in order to turn a profit. Fraudulent health care schemes come in many forms.

insurance fraud: an overview

Insurance fraud refers to any duplicitous act performed with the intent to obtain an improper payment from an insurer. The pervasiveness of insurance fraud drives up costs for all consumers and costs the insurance industry billions of dollars each year. One authority estimates that the annual value of insurance fraud approaches $80 billion. Detecting insurance fraud is difficult because of the surreptitious nature by which the criminal perpetrates the fraud.

Kickbacks: an overview

A "kickback" is a term used to refer to a misappropriation of funds that enriches a person of power or influence who uses the power or influence to make a different individual, organization, or company richer. Often, kickbacks result from a corrupt bidding scheme. Through corrupt bidding, the official can award the contract to a company, even though the company did not place the lowest bid. The company profits by having been awarded the bid and getting to perform the contract.

money laundering: an overview

Money laundering refers to a financial transaction scheme that aims to conceal the identity, source, and destination of illicitly-obtained money. The money laundering process can be broken down into three stages.

computer and internet fraud: an overview

Criminal activity involving the perpetration of a fraud through the use of the computer or the internet can take many different forms. One common form includes “hacking,” in which a perpetrator uses sophisticated technological tools to remotely access a secure computer or internet location. A second common criminal activity involves illegally intercepting an electronic transmission not intended for the interceptor.

credit card fraud: an overview

Credit card fraud is a form of identity theft that involves an unauthorized taking of another’s credit card information for the purpose of charging purchases to the account or removing funds from it.

bankruptcy fraud: an overview

Bankruptcy fraud is a white-collar crime that takes four general forms. First, debtors conceal assets to avoid having to forfeit them. Second, individuals intentionally file false or incomplete forms. Third, individuals sometimes file multiple times using either false information or real information in several states. The fourth kind of bankruptcy fraud involves bribing a court-appointed trustee.

Latin for "that you have the body." A writ of habeas corpus is used to bring a prisoner or other detainee (e.g. institutionalized mental patient) before the court to determine if the person's imprisonment or detention is lawful. In the US system, federal courts can use the writ of habeas corpus to determine if a state's detention of a prisoner is valid.  A habeas petition proceeds as a civil action against the State agent (usually a warden) who holds the defendant in custody.

Definition

The first step in criminal proceeding where the defendant is brought in front of the court to hear the charges and enter a plea.

Illustrative caselaw

See, e.g. County of Riverside v. McLaughlin 500 U.S. 44 (1991) and Godinez v. Moran, 509 U.S. 389 (1993).

Definition

1.  Intentionally putting another person in reasonable apprehension of an imminent harmful or offensive contact.  No intent to cause physical injury needs to exist, and no physical injury needs to result.  So defined in tort law and the criminal statutes of some states.