Premeditation is when an individual contemplates, for any length of time, the undertaking of an activity and then subsequently takes the action.
In Roby v. State, the Supreme Court of Mississippi stated that premeditation is...
criminal law
presumption of innocence
A presumption of innocence means that any defendant in a criminal trial is assumed to be innocent until they have been proven guilty. As such, a prosecutor is required to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the person committed the crime if that...
pretexting
Pretexting is a social engineering scheme for committing fraud which involves the use of a fabricated story, or pretext, in order to gain a victim’s trust and trick or manipulate them into sharing sensitive information, downloading malware,...
pretrial lineup
Pretrial lineup is a procedure where police officers place an alleged criminal in a line with several other individuals to allow a witness or victim the opportunity to identify the alleged criminal. As noted by the U.S. Supreme Court in...
principal
In general, a principal is a person or thing that is more important than others when identified for a particular purpose. The term also has specific meanings in various fields of law.
In criminal law, principal refers to a...
principal in the first degree
A principal in the first degree is a person who commits a crime. The term refers to the person with the intent to commit the crime, even if the actus reus is done through an agent who lacked the intent to commit a crime. The term is meant to...
principal in the second degree
A principal in the second degree is a person that is present at the scene of a crime and aids, abets, or encourages the commission of the crime with the required criminal intent. A principal in the second degree may also be referred to as an...
prior(s)
“Prior(s)” is a slang term often used in the law enforcement community to refer to an individual’s previous criminal record, generally including convictions and arrests. Prior convictions may result in harsher penalties under various state...
prison
Prison refers to a confinement facility for convicted felons sentenced to more than one year of imprisonment. Also known as a penitentiary. Prisons in the United States are divided into federal and state systems. By way of contrast, a jail is...
prisoner
A prisoner is someone being held in confinement.
Commonly, a prisoner is a criminal who is serving a prison sentence after being convicted of a crime, or a person who has been arrested by law enforcement and is being held...