criminal law

sex trafficking

Sex trafficking is a form of human trafficking which transports or exploits persons to use them for sexual acts. Title 22, Section 7102 of the U.S. Code defines sex trafficking as “the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision,...

sexual slavery

Sexual slavery refers to the systematic enslavement of individuals for sexual purposes, forcing them to perform sexual acts against their will. It involves controlling a person through force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of sexual...

sheriff

The sheriff commonly acts as the highest law enforcement officer of the county. The citizens of the county elect the sheriff. Sheriffs usually serve four-year terms. Although in a few states, sheriffs serve for two, three, and six-year terms...

shoplifting

Shoplifting is generally defined as the unauthorized removal of merchandise from a store without paying for it, or intentionally paying less for an item than its sale price. However, shoplifting can include carrying, hiding, concealing, or...

showup

A showup is a pretrial identification procedure where a witness is shown only the suspect and asked if that person was the perpetrator. This procedure has been criticized as subject to error.

Contrast with pretrial lineup...

sodomy

Sodomy refers to anal or oral intercourse. As explained in Bass v. State, “Sodomy is defined as any sexual act involving the sex organs of one person and the mouth or anus of another.”

Traditionally, sodomy has been...

solicitation

Solicitation generally refers to the act of requesting or seeking to obtain something from someone.

In criminal law, solicitation is the inchoate offense of offering money to someone with the specific intent of persuading...

solitary confinement

Solitary confinement, also known as isolation or administrative segregation, is when a prisoner is placed in a cell away from other prisoners, with limited contact with others. Prisoners are usually placed in solitary confinement as a form...

spear phishing

Spear phishing refers to the practice of targeting a specific individual, group, or organization with a tailored fraudulent email for the purpose of gaining access to sensitive personal or professional information. Spear phishing is unique...

special circumstances

Some common uses of the term “special circumstances” in a legal sense include:

In the context of criminal law, special circumstances refer to those situations where criminal activities are executed with high disregard to society and/...

Pages