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See writ of habeas corpus.
habitual offender
A person sentenced under the provisions of a statute declaring that people convicted of a given offense, and shown to have previously been convicted of another specified offense, shall receive a more severe penalty than that for the current offense alone.
hacker
A computer hobbyist or professional, generally with advanced programming skills. Today, the term hacker has taken on a sinister connotation, referring to hobbyists who are bent on illegally accessing the computers of others or who attempt to demonstrate their technological prowess through computerized acts of vandalism.
hands-off doctrine
A policy of nonintervention with regard to prison management that U.S. courts tended to follow until the late 1960s. For the past 30 years, the doctrine has languished as judicial intervention in prison administration dramatically increased, although there is now some evidence that a new hands-off era is approaching.
Harrison Act
The first major piece of federal antidrug legislation, passed in 1914.
hate crime
A criminal offense in which the motive is "hatred, bias, or prejudice, based on the actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation of another individual or group of individuals."23 Also called bias crime.
hearing
A proceeding in which arguments, witnesses, or evidence is heard by a judicial officer or an administrative body.
hearsay
Something that is not based on the personal knowledge of a witness. Witnesses who testify about something they have heard, for example, are offering hearsay by repeating information about a matter of which they have no direct knowledge.
hearsay rule
The long-standing precedent that hearsay cannot be used in American courtrooms. Rather than accepting testimony based on hearsay, the court will ask that the person who was the original source of the hearsay information be brought in to be questioned and cross-examined. Exceptions to the hearsay rule may occur when the person with direct knowledge is dead or is otherwise unable to testify.
hierarchy rule
A standard Uniform Crime Reports scoring practice in which only the most serious offense is counted in a multiple-offense incident.
high-technology crime
Violations of the criminal law whose commission depends upon, makes use of, and often targets sophisticated and advanced technology. See also computer crime.
home confinement
House arrest. Individuals ordered confined to their homes are sometimes monitored electronically to ensure they do not leave during the hours of confinement. Absence from the home during working hours is often permitted.
homicide
See criminal homicide.
Hudud crime
A serious violation of Islamic law that is regarded as an offense against God. Hudud crimes include such behavior as theft, adultery, sodomy, alcohol consumption, and robbery.
hung jury
A jury that, after long deliberation, is so irreconcilably divided in opinion that it is unable to reach any verdict.
hypothesis
An explanation that accounts for a set of facts and that can be tested by further investigation. Also, something that is taken to be true for the purpose of argument or investigation.24
23. H. R. 4797, 102d Cong. 2d Sess. (1992).
24. The American Heritage Dictionary and Electronic Thesaurus on CD-ROM (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1987).
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