CJCENTRAL: Criminal Law Today, 2E: Glossary

dangerous proximity test
A test for assessing attempts, under which a person is guilty of an attempt when his or her conduct comes dangerously close to success.

deadly force
force likely to cause death or great bodily harm.

defense
evidence and arguments offered by a defendant and his or her attorney(s) to show why that person should not be held liable for a criminal charge.

degree
the level of seriousness of an offense.

depraved heart murder
(1) unjustifiable conduct which is extremely negligent, and which results in the death of a human being, or (2) the killing of a human being with extreme atrocity.

designer drugs
chemical substances which have a potential for abuse similar to or greater than that for controlled substances, but which are designed to produce a desired pharmacological effect and to evade the controlling statutory provisions.

determinate sentencing
(also presumptive or fixed sentencing)
a model for criminal punishment which sets one particular punishment, or length of sentence, for each specific type of crime. Under the model, for example, all offenders convicted of the same degree of burglary would be sentenced to the same length of time behind bars.

deterrence
a goal of criminal sentencing which seeks to prevent others from committing crimes similar to the one for which an offender is being sentenced.

deviate sexual intercourse
any contact between any part of the genitals of one person and the mouth or anus of another.

diminished capacity
also diminished responsibility
a defense based upon claims of a mental condition which may be insufficient to exonerate a defendant of guilt, but that may be relevant to specific mental elements of certain crimes or degrees of crime.

disorderly conduct
specific, purposeful, and unlawful behavior that tends to cause public inconvenience, annoyance, or alarm.

disturbance of public assembly
a crime that occurs when any person(s) acts(s) unlawfully at a public gathering collected for a lawful purpose in such a way as to purposefully disturb the gathering.

driving under the influence (DUI)
unlawfully operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol or drugs. See also, driving while intoxicated (DWI).

driving while intoxicated (DWI)
unlawfully operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol. See also, driving under the influence (DUI).

drug
a generic term applicable to a wide variety of substances having any physical or psychotropic effect upon the human body.

DSM-IV
The fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, published by the American Psychiatric Association. The DSM-IV lists 12 major categories of mental disorder.

due process of law
those procedures which effectively guarantee individual rights in the face of criminal prosecution; the due course of legal proceedings according to the rules and forms which have been established for the protection of private rights; formal adherence to fundamental rules for fair and orderly legal proceedings.

duress
or compulsion
a condition under which one is forced to act against one's will.

Durham Rule
also known as the product rule, holds that an accused is not criminally responsible if his or her unlawful act was the product of mental disease or mental defect.

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