CJCENTRAL: Criminal Justice Brief, 5E: Glossary

illegal search and seizure
An act in violation of the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution: "The right of people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched and the persons or things to be seized."

illegally seized evidence
Evidence seized in opposition to the principles of due process as described by the Bill of Rights. Most illegally seized evidence is the result of police searches conducted without a proper warrant, or of improperly conducted interrogations.

incapacitation
The use of imprisonment or other means to reduce the likelihood that an offender will be capable of committing future offenses.

inchoate offense
One not yet completed. Also, an offense that consists of an action or conduct that is a step toward the intended commission of another offense.

incident-based reporting
A less restrictive and more expansive method of collecting crime data (as opposed to summary reporting) in which all the analytical elements associated with an offense or arrest are compiled by a central collection agency on an incident by incident basis.

included offense
An offense that is made up of elements that are a subset of the elements of another offense having a greater statutory penalty, and the occurrence of which is established by the same evidence or by some portion of the evidence that has been offered to establish the occurrence of the greater offense.

incompetent to stand trial
In criminal proceedings, the finding by a court that a defendant is mentally incapable of understanding the nature of the charges and proceedings against him or her, of consulting with an attorney, and of aiding in his or her own defense.

indeterminate sentence
A type of sentence to imprisonment where the commitment, instead of being for a specified single time quantity, such as three years, is for a range of time, such as two to five years or five years maximum and zero minimum.

indeterminate sentencing
A model of criminal punishment which encourages rehabilitation via the use of general and relatively unspecific sentences (such as a term of imprisonment of "from one to ten years").

Index crimes
See Crime Index.

indictment
A formal, written accusation submitted to the court by a grand jury, alleging that a specified person(s) has committed a specified offense(s), usually a felony.

individual rights
Those rights guaranteed to all members of our society by the U.S. Constitution (especially as found in the first ten amendments to the Constitution, known as the Bill of Rights). These rights are especially relevant to criminal defendants facing formal processing by the criminal justice system.

individual rights advocate
One who seeks to protect personal freedoms within the process of criminal justice.

industrial prisons
Those which flourished during the industrial prison era, and whose intent it was to capitalize on the labor of convicts sentenced to confinement.

information
In criminal justice usage, a formal written accusation submitted to the court by a prosecutor, alleging that a specified person(s) has committed a specified offense(s).

infraction
A minor violation of state statute or local ordinance punishable by a fine or other penalty, but not by incarceration, or by a specified, usually limited term of incarceration.

inherent coercion
Those tactics used by police interviewers that fall short of physical abuse, but that, nonetheless, pressure suspects to divulge information.

initial appearance
In criminal proceedings, the first appearance of an accused person in the first court having jurisdiction over his or her case. See also first appearance.

initial plea (also first pleas)
The first plea to a given charge entered in the court record by or for the defendant. The acceptance of an initial plea by the court unambiguously indicates that the arraignment process has been completed.

insanity defense
A defense which claims that the person charged with a crime did not know what they were doing, or that they did not know that what they were doing was wrong.

institutional capacity
An officially stated number of inmates that a confinement or residential facility is or was intended to house.

intake
The process by which a juvenile referral is received by personnel of a probation agency, juvenile court, or special intake unit and a decision made to close the case at intake, or refer the juvenile to another agency, or place him or her under some kind of care or supervision, or file a petition in a juvenile court.

intensive supervision
A form of probation supervision involving frequent face-to-face contacts between the probationary client and probation officers.

intent
The state of mind or attitude with which an act is carried out; the design, resolve, or determination with which a person acts to achieve a certain result.

interdiction
The interception of drug traffic at the nation's borders. Interdiction is one of the many strategies used to stem the flow of illegal drugs into the United States.

intermediate appellate court
An appellate court of which the primary function is to review the judgments of trial courts and the decisions of administrative agencies, and whose decisions are in turn usually reviewable by a higher appellate court in the same state.

intermediate sanctions (also alternative sanctions)
The use of split sentencing, shock probation and parole, home confinement, shock incarceration, and community service in lieu of other, more traditional, sanctions such as imprisonment and fines. Intermediate sanctions are becoming increasingly popular as prison crowding grows.

INTERPOL
An acronym for the International Police Association. INTERPOL began operations in 1946, and today has 137 members.

interrogation
The information gathering activities of police officers that involve the direct questioning of suspects. The actions of officers during suspect interrogation are constrained by a number of Supreme Court decisions, the first of which was Brown v. Mississippi (1936).

Islamic Law
A system of laws, operative in some Arab countries, which is based upon the Muslim religion and especially the holy book of Islam, the Koran.

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