Term
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Definition
| The balance between the power of government and the rights of individuals |
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Term
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Definition
| The principles that require that established written rules and procedures define, prohibit, and prescribe punishments for crimes |
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Term
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Definition
| Laws passed after the occurrence of the conduct constituting the crime |
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Term
| Void-for-vagueness doctrine |
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Definition
| Principle that statutes violate due process if they don't clearly define crime and punishment in advance |
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Term
| fair notice (in void-for-vagueness doctrine) |
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Definition
| Vague laws deny individuals life, liberty, and property without due process of law because they don't give individuals fair warning |
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Term
| Equal protection of the laws |
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Definition
| Criminal laws can treat groups of people differently only if the different treatment is reasonable |
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Term
| Expressive conduct (in 1st Amendment) |
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Definition
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Term
| Void-for-overbreadth doctrine |
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Definition
| Principle that a statute is unconstitutional if it includes in its definition of "undesirable behavior" conduct protected under the U.S. Constitution |
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Term
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Definition
| Trials without juries, in which judges find the facts |
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Term
| Fundamental right to privacy |
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Definition
| Preferred right guaranteed in the Bill of Rights that requires a compelling state interest to justify legislation restriction privacy |
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Term
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Definition
| A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed |
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Term
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Definition
| Punishment considered no longer acceptable |
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Term
| Cruel and unusual punishments |
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Definition
| Punishments banned by the 8th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution |
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Term
| Principle of proportionality |
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Definition
| Principle of law stating that the punishment must be proportional to the crime committed |
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Term
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Definition
| Statutes enacted by state governments in the United States which require the state courts to hand down a mandatory and extended period of incarceration to persons who have been convicted of a serious criminal offense on three or more separate occasions |
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Term
| Mandatory minimum sentences |
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Definition
| The legislatively prescribed, non-discretionary amount of prison time that all offenders convicted of the offense must serve |
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Term
| Fixed (determinate sentences) |
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Definition
| Sentences that fit the punishment to the crime |
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Term
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Definition
| Narrow range of penalties established by the commission within which judges are supposed to choose a specific sentence |
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Term
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Definition
| Other than a prior conviction, any fact that increases the penalty for a crime beyond the prescribed statutory maximum; must be submitted to a jury and proved beyond a reasonable doubt |
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Term
| Abuse-of-discretion standard |
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Definition
| An adjudicator's failure to exercise sound, reasonable, and legal decision making |
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