criminal law and procedure

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...

prisoners' rights

Prisoners’ rights are the rights of the prisoners against discrimination or abuse within correctional facilities. Both federal and state laws govern the rights of the incarcerated and oversee the operation of the prisons. While prisoners do...

private necessity

Private necessity is a defense in tort law against charges of trespass in situations where defendants have interfered with the plaintiff's property in an emergency to advance or protect their own interests.

In Benamon v....

privilege

In law, privilege refers to a special legal right, immunity, or exemption granted to a person.

In evidence, certain subject matter is privileged; meaning they cannot be inquired into in any way. Such privileged information...

pro se

Pro se is Law Latin that means "for oneself." A litigant proceeds pro se when they choose to represent themselves in court, as opposed to litigating through a lawyer. See, e.g., Rivera v. Florida Department of Corrections, 526 U.S. 135 (1999...

probable cause

Probable cause refers to a reasonable basis for believing that a crime may have been committed (for an arrest) or that evidence of a crime is present in the place to be searched (for a search).

Probable cause is a Fourth...

probative

Probative means tending to prove or establish proof.

In Barrow v. Village of New Miami, the Court of Appeals of Ohio, Twelfth District, Butler County noted that probative evidence is evidence that tends to prove the issue...

probative value

Probative value is the probability of evidence to reach its proof purpose of a relevant fact in issue. It is one of the main elements of admitting evidence, as the admitted evidence must be relevant, tending to make the fact in issue more...

procedural due process

The U.S. Constitution requires that federal and state governments abide by certain procedures to protect the essential interests of all citizens. The Fifth and the Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution guarantee due process to all...

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