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See writ of habeas corpus.
habitual offender
A person sentenced under the provisions of a statute declaring that persons convicted of a given offense, and shown to have previously been convicted of another specified offense(s), shall receive a more severe penalty than that for the current offense alone.
hackers
Computer hobbyists or professionals, generally with advanced programming skills. Today the term "hacker" has taken on a sinister connotation, and includes those 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
An historical policy of nonintervention with regard to prison management that American courts tended to follow until the late 1960s. For the past 20 years the doctrine has languished as judicial intervention in prison administration has dramatically increased, although there is now growing evidence of a return to a new hands-off doctrine.
Harrison Act
The first major piece of federal antidrug legislation, passed in 1914.
hate crimes
Criminal offenses in which the defendant's conduct was motivated by 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.
hearing
A proceeding in which arguments, witnesses, or evidence are heard by a judicial officer or administrative body.
hearsay
Something that is not based upon the personal knowledge of a witness. Witnesses who testify, for example, about something they have heard, are offering hearsay by repeating information abut a matter of which they have no direct knowledge.
hearsay rule
The long-standing American courtroom precedent that hearsay cannot be used in court. Rather than accepting testimony based upon hearsay, the American trial process asks that the person who was the original source of the hearsay information be brought into court 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 UCR scoring practice in which only the most serious offense is counted in a multiple-offense situation.
high-technology crime
Violations of the criminal law whose commission depends upon, makes use of, and often targets, sophisticated and advanced technology. See also cybercrime and computer crime.
home confinement
House arrest. Individuals ordered confined in their homes are sometimes monitored electronically to be sure they do not leave during the hours of confinement (absence from the home during working hours is often permitted).
homicide
See criminal homicide. Hudud crimes
Serious violations of Islamic law regarded as offenses against God. Hudud crimes include such behavior as theft, adultery, sodomy, drinking alcohol, 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
I. An explanation that accounts for a set of facts and that can be tested by further investigation. II. [s]omething that is taken to be true for the purpose of argument or investigation.
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