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A confinement facility administered by an agency of local government, typically a law enforcement agency, intended for adults but sometimes also containing juveniles, which holds people detained pending adjudication or committed after adjudication, usually those sentenced to a year or less.
jail commitment
A sentence of commitment to the jurisdiction of a confinement facility system for adults which is administered by an agency of local government and whose custodial authority is usually limited to people sentenced to a year or less of confinement.
judge
An elected or appointed public official who presides over a court of law and who is authorized to hear and sometimes to decide cases and to conduct trials.
judgment
The statement of the decision of a court that the defendant is acquitted or convicted of the offense or offenses charged.
judgment suspending sentence
A court-ordered sentencing alternative that results in the convicted offender being placed on probation.
judicial officer
Any person authorized by statute, constitutional provision, or court rule to exercise the powers reserved to the judicial branch of government.
judicial review
The power of a court to review actions and decisions made by other agencies of government.
jural postulates
Propositions developed by the famous jurist Roscoe Pound that hold that the law reflects shared needs without which members of society could not coexist. Pound's jural postulates are often linked to the idea that the law can be used to engineer the social structure to ensure certain kinds of outcomes. In capitalist societies, for example, the law of theft protects property rights.
jurisdiction
The territory, subject matter, or people over which a court or other justice agency may exercise lawful authority, as determined by statute or constitution. See also venue.
jurisprudence
The philosophy of law. Also, the science and study of the law.
juror
A member of a trial or grand jury who has been selected for jury duty and is required to serve as an arbiter of the facts in a court of law. Jurors are expected to render verdicts of "guilty" or "not guilty" as to the charges brought against the accused, although they may sometimes fail to do so (as in the case of a hung jury).
jury panel
The group of people summoned to appear in court as potential jurors for a particular trial. Also, the people selected from the group of potential jurors to sit in the jury box, from which those acceptable to the prosecution and the defense are finally chosen as the jury.
jury selection
The process whereby, according to law and precedent, members of a trial jury are chosen.
just deserts
A model of criminal sentencing that holds that criminal offenders deserve the punishment they receive at the hands of the law and that punishments should be appropriate to the type and severity of the crime committed.
justice
The principle of fairness; the ideal of moral equity.
justice model
A contemporary model of imprisonment based on the principle of just deserts.
justification
A legal defense in which the defendant admits to committing the act in question but claims it was necessary in order to avoid some greater evil.
juvenile
A person subject to juvenile court proceedings because a statutorily defined event or condition caused by or affecting that person was alleged to have occurred while his or her age was below the statutorily specified age limit of original jurisdiction of a juvenile court.
juvenile court
A court that has, as all or part of its authority, original jurisdiction over matters concerning people statutorily defined as juveniles.
juvenile court judgment
The juvenile court decision, terminating an adjudicatory hearing, that the juvenile is a delinquent, a status offender, or a dependent or that the allegations in the petition are not sustained.
juvenile disposition
The decision of a juvenile court, concluding a dispositional hearing, that an adjudicated juvenile be committed to a juvenile correctional facility; be placed in a juvenile residence, shelter, or care or treatment program; be required to meet certain standards of conduct; or be released.
juvenile justice
The policies and activities of law enforcement and the courts in handling law violations by youths under the age of criminal jurisdiction.29
juvenile justice agency
A government agency, or subunit thereof, whose functions are the investigation, supervision, adjudication, care, or confinement of juvenile offenders and nonoffenders subject to the jurisdiction of a juvenile court. Also, in some usages, a private agency providing care and treatment.
juvenile justice system
Government agencies that function to investigate, supervise, adjudicate, care for, or confine youthful offenders and other children subject to the jurisdiction of the juvenile court.
juvenile petition
A document filed in juvenile court alleging that a juvenile is a delinquent, a status offender, or a dependent and asking that the court assume jurisdiction over the juvenile or that an alleged delinquent be transferred to a criminal court for prosecution as an adult.
29. Jeffrey A. Butts and Ojmarrh Mitchell, "Brick by Brick: Dismantling the Border between Juvenile and Adult Justice," in Phyllis McDonald and Janice Munsterman, eds., Criminal Justice 2000, Vol. 2: Boundary Changes in Criminal Justice Organizations (Washington, D.C.: National Institute of Justice, 2000), p. 207.
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