criminal law and procedure

Bifurcate, in the legal sense, is the dividing of a case into two stages for trial. A common division is to determine liability or guilt in the first stage and damages or punishment in the second.

Bifurcated trial means that the trial is conducted in two stages. A common division is to determine liability or guilt in the first stage and damages or penalties in the second.

A bill of attainder is a piece of legislation that declares a party is guilty of a crime. Bills of attainder allow the government to punish a party for a perceived crime without first going through the trial process. 

Bill of exceptions is a formal written document in which a party objects to a judge's decision or relevant evidence at trial.

Generally, biological experiments are experiments conducted on people without their consent; however, they are defined contextually based on what is occurring in the present situation. For instance, in Perez v. Sharp, the forced sterilization of criminals was considered a biological experiment.

Blackmail or extortion, which can be used interchangeably, pursuant to the 1942 Illinois Supreme Court opinion in People v.

• lawsuits-court
• criminal law

A blanket search warrant is a broad authorization from a judge that allows the police to search multiple areas for evidence without specifying exactly what they are looking for and seize everything found.

Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) is the level of alcohol (understood as ethanol) circulating in the bloodstream. For example, a BAC level of 0.20% means that a person’s bloodstream contains 0.20g/dL (milligrams per deciliter) of alcohol for every 100 ml of blood.

A bond refers to an obligation to pay a specified amount of money.

A bondsman is a person who guarantees a bond. Bondsmen are most frequently seen in the context of bail bondsman for criminal defendants.