CJCENTRAL: Criminal Law Today, 2E: Glossary

pandering
soliciting a person to perform an act of prostitution.

Part I Offenses
that group of offenses, also called major offenses or index offenses, for which the Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) publishes counts of reported instances, and which consists of murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny, auto theft, and arson.

Part II Offenses
a group of 19 "lesser crimes" including forgery, fraud, embezzlement, vandalism, prostitution, drug abuse violations, etc., which are reported in the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports (UCR). Part II Offenses are counted only in terms of arrests (rather than as reported crimes).

parties to crime
all persons who take part in the commission of a crime, including those who aid and abet, and who are therefore criminally liable for the offense.

penal law
see criminal law.

perfect self-defense
a claim of self-defense that meets all of the generally accepted legal conditions for such a claim to be valid. Where deadly force is used perfect self-defense requires that, in light of the circumstances, the defendant reasonably believed it to be necessary to kill the decedent to avert imminent death or great bodily harm, and the defendant was not the initial aggressor nor was responsible for provoking the fatal confrontation.

perjury
the willful giving of false testimony under oath in a judicial proceeding. Also, false testimony given under any lawfully administered oath.

personal crime
also called violent crime, is a crime committed against a person, including (according to the FBI's UCR program) murder, rape, aggravated assault, and robbery.

personal property
anything of value that is subject to ownership that is not land nor fixtures.

personal trespass by computer
an offense in which a person uses a computer or computer network without authority and with the intent to cause physical injury to an individual.

physical proximity test
a test traditionally used under common law to determine whether a person was guilty of attempted criminal activity. The physical proximity test requires that the accused has it within his or her power to complete the crime almost immediately.

pimping
aiding, abetting, counseling, or commanding another in the commission of prostitution, or the act of procuring a prostitute for another.

plea bargaining
the process of negotiating an agreement between defendant, prosecutor, and the court as to what an appropriate plea and associated sentence should be in a given case.

plurality requirement
the logical and legal requirement that a conspiracy involve two or more parties.

pornography
"the depiction of sexual behavior in such a way as to excite the viewer sexually."

postcrime victimization
also, secondary victimization. Problems which follow from initial victimization, such as the loss of employment, medical bills, the insensitivity of family members, and others, etc.

precursor chemicals
chemicals that may be used in the manufacture of a controlled substance.

premeditated murder
murder that was planned in advance (however briefly) and willfully carried out.

premeditation
the act of deliberating or meditating upon, or planning, a course of action (i.e., a crime). For purposes of the criminal law, premeditation requires the opportunity for reflection between the time the intent to act is formed and the act is committed.

preponderance of the evidence
a standard for determining legal liability which requires a probability of just over 50% that the defendant did what is claimed.

present ability
as used in assault statutes, a term meaning that the person attempting assault is physically capable of immediately carrying it out.

principal in the first degree
a person whose acts directly result in the criminal misconduct in question.

principal in the second degree
any person who was present at the crime scene and who aided, abetted, counseled, or encouraged the principal.

principle of legality
an axiom which holds that behavior cannot be criminal if no law exists which defines it as such.

prize fighting
unlawful public fighting undertaken for the purpose of winning an award or a prize.

probation
a sentence of imprisonment that is suspended. Also, the conditional freedom granted by a judicial officer to an adjudicated or adjudged adult or juvenile offender, as long as the person meets certain conditions of behavior.

probative value
the worth of any evidence to prove or disprove the facts at issue.

procedural law
that aspect of the law that specifies the methods to be used in enforcing substantive law.

promoting prostitution
the statutory offense of (1) owning, controlling, managing, supervising, or otherwise keeping a house of prostitution; (2) procuring a person for a house of prostitution; (3) encouraging, inducing, or otherwise purposely causing another to become or remain a prostitute; (4) soliciting a person to patronize a prostitute; (5) procuring a prostitute for another; or (6) transporting a person with the purpose of promoting that person's involvement in prostitution.

property crime
a crime committed against property, including (according to the FBI's UCR program) burglary, larceny, auto theft, and arson.

proportionality
a sentencing principle which holds that the severity of sanctions should bear a direct relationship to the seriousness of the crime committed.

prostitution
"the offering or receiving of the body for sexual intercourse for hire [as well as] the offering or receiving of the body for indiscriminate sexual intercourse without hire." Some states limit the crime of prostitution to sexual intercourse for hire.

proximate cause
the primary or moving cause that plays a substantial part in bringing about injury or damage. It may be a first cause that sets in motion a string of events whose ultimate outcome is reasonably foreseeable.

prurient interest
a morbid interest in sex; an obsession with lascivious and immoral matters.

psycholegal error
"the mistaken belief that if we identify a cause for conduct, including mental or physical disorders, then the conduct is necessarily excused."

public drunkenness
the offense of being in a state of intoxication in a place accessible to the public.

public order offense
an act that is willfully and unlawfully committed and which disturbs public peace or tranquillity. Included are offenses such as fighting, breach of peace, disorderly conduct, vagrancy, loitering, unlawful assembly, public intoxication, obstructing public passage, and (illegally) carrying weapons.

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