CJCENTRAL: Criminal Justice Brief, 5E: Glossary

warden
The official in charge of operation of a prison, the chief administrator of a prison, or the prison superintendent.

warehousing
An imprisonment strategy based upon the desire to prevent recurrent crime, but which has abandoned any hope of rehabilitation.

warrant
In criminal proceedings, any of a number of writs issued by a judicial officer, which direct a law enforcement officer to perform a specified act and afford him protection from damage if he performs it.

watchman style
A style of policing that is marked by a concern for order maintenance. This style of policing is characteristic of lower-class communities where informal police intervention into the lives of residents is employed in the service of keeping the peace.

weapons offenses
Unlawful sale, distribution, manufacture, alteration, transportation, possession, or use or attempted sale, distribution, manufacture, alteration, transportation, possession, or use of a deadly or dangerous weapon or accessory.

white-collar crime
Nonviolent crime for financial gain committed by means of deception by persons whose occupational status is entrepreneurial, professional, or semiprofessional and utilizing their special occupational skills and opportunities; also, nonviolent crime for financial gain utilizing deception and committed by anyone having special technical and professional knowledge of business and government, irrespective of the person's occupation.

witness
In criminal justice usage, generally, a person who has knowledge of the circumstances of a case; in court usage, one who testifies as to what he or she has seen, heard, otherwise observed, or has expert knowledge of.

work release
A prison program in which inmates are temporarily released into the community in order to meet job responsibilities.

workhouse (or brideswell)
A form of early imprisonment whose purpose it was to instill habits of industry in the idle.

writ
A document issued by a judicial officer ordering or forbidding the performance of a specified act.

writ of certiorari
A writ issued from an appellate court for the purpose of obtaining from a lower court the record of its proceedings in a particular case. In some states this writ is the mechanism for discretionary reviews. A request for review is made by petitioning for a writ of certiorari and granting of review is indicated by issuance of writ.

writ of habeas corpus
In criminal proceedings, the writ that directs the person detaining a prisoner to bring him or her before a judicial officer to determine the lawfulness of the imprisonment.

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