Abuse
- General term for
physical or mental mistreatment.
Child
Abuse
- An intentional
or neglectful physical or emotional injury imposed on a child, including
sexual molestation.
Sexual
Abuse
- An illegal
sex act, especially one performed against a minor by an adult. The
term is usually applied to contact not amounting to rape. and is
typically divided into degrees according to the nature and circumstances
of the contact.
Spousal
Abuse
- Physical, sexual,
or psychological abuse inflicted by one spouse on the other spouse.
Appeal
- A request to a
higher (appellate) court for that court to review and change the decision
of a lower court.
Arson
- Malicious burning
to destroy property.
Assault
- The threat or use
of force on another that causes that person to have a reasonable apprehension
of imminent harmful or offensive contact; the act of putting another
person in reasonable fear or apprehension of an immediate battery by
means of an act amounting to an attempt or threat to commit a battery.
Aggravated
Assault
- Criminal assault
accompanied by circumstances that make it more severe, such as the
use of a deadly weapon, the intent to commit another crime, or the
intent to cause serious bodily harm.
Assault
and Battery
- Assault in
conjunction with actual battery.
Assault
With A Deadly Weapon
- An aggravated
assault in which the defendant, controlling a deadly weapon, threatens
the victim with death or serious bodily injury.
Assault
With Intent
- Any of several
assaults that are carried out with an additional criminal purpose
in mind, such as assault with intent to murder, assault with intent
to rob, assault with intent to rape, and assault with intent to
inflict great bodily injury.
Attempted
Assault
- An attempt
to commit an assault.
Sexual
Assault
- 1.
Sexual intercourse with another person without that person's consent.
2. Offensive sexual contact with another person,
exclusive of rape.
Battery
- The application
of force to another, resulting in harmful or offensive contact.
Bribery
- The corrupt payment,
receipt, or solicitation of a private favor for official action.
Child
Enticement
- Attempting to entice,
lure, tempt, or persuade any child to enter, leave, or stay in any building,
vehicle, or place if such act is done with the use of force or with
the intent to commit rape, indecent assault, battery, dissemination
of material harmful to children, unnatural and lascivious acts, indecent
exposure, or other sexual offenses.
Child
Exploitation
- The hiring, employment,
persuasion, inducement, or coercion of child to perform in obscene exhibitions
and incident shows, whether live, on video or film, or to pose or act
as a model in obscene or pornographic materials, or to sell or distribute
said materials.
Child
Pornography
- Any visual depiction
of actual or simulated sexual conduct by an individual under the age
of 18 or lascivious exhibition of the pubic area of such an individual.
Courts have held that such material my be banned even if it is not legally
obscene and does not involve nudity.
Child
Procurement
- The act of arranging
or instigating a meeting with a child for the purpose of having sexual
relations.
Counterfeiting
- The forging, copying,
or imitating of something (usually money) without a right to do so and
with the purpose of deceiving or defrauding.
Cybercrime
-
Cybersquatting
- The act of
reserving a domain name on the Internet, especially a name that
would be associated with a company's trademark, and then seeking
to profit by selling or licensing the name to the company that has
an interest in being identified with it.
Cyberstalking
- The act of
threatening, harassing, or annoying someone through multiple email
messages, as through the Internet, especially with the intent of
placing the recipient in fear that an illegal act or an injury will
be inflicted on the recipient or a member of the recipient's family
or household.
Cybertheft
- The act of
using an online computer service, such as one on the Internet, to
steal someone else's property or to interfere with someone else's
use and enjoyment of property.
Email
Interception
- The act of
reading, storing, or intercepting email intended for another person
without that person's permission.
Internet
Fraud
- Internet fraud
generally refers to any type of fraudulent use of a computer and
the Internet, including the use of chat rooms, email, message boards,
discussion groups and web sites, to conduct fraudulent transactions,
transmit the proceeds of fraud to financial institutions, or to
steal, destroy or otherwise render unusable (the proliferation of
viruses for example) computer data vital to the operation of a business.
Telemarketing
Fraud
- Telemarketing
Fraud is a term that refers generally to any scheme to deprive victims
dishonestly of money or property or to misrepresent the values of
goods or services.
Domestic
Violence
- Violence between
members of a household, usually spouses; an assault or other violent
act committed by one member of a household against another.
Drug
Crimes
- The definitions
below encompass both drugs and drug paraphernalia.
Cultivation
- The growing
of organic drugs or their precursors, e.g. marijuana, coca, opium
poppies, etc.
Distribution
- The act selling
or trading drugs.
Manufacturing
- Includes the
creation of synthetic drugs and the act of isolating drug compounds
from organic sources.
Possession
- Having drugs
or drug paraphernalia on one's person.
Possession
for Sale
- The possession
of drugs in quantities sufficient for resale.
Prescription
Fraud
- The act of
obtaining prescription (legal) drugs through forged or stolen prescriptions.
Trafficking
- The act of
transferring drugs from one location to another, usually on behalf
of a second party.
Embezzlement
- The illegal transfer
of money or property that, although possessed legally by the embezzler,
is diverted to the embezzler personally by his or her fraudulent action.
Expungement
- The legal procedure
for sealing a record of an arrest and/or criminal conviction from public
view.
Extortion
- Obtaining money
or property by threat to a victim's property or loved ones, intimidation,
or false claim of a right (such as pretending to be an IRS agent).
Failure
To Register
- Failure to register
as a sex offender.
Forgery
- The act of fraudulently
making a false document or altering a real one to be used as if genuine.
Fraud
- A knowing misrepresentation
of the truth or concealment of a material fact to induce another to
act to his or her detriment.
Actual
Fraud
- A concealment
or false representation through a statement or conduct that injures
another who relies on it in acting.
Bank
Fraud
- The criminal
offense of knowingly executing, or attempting to execute, a scheme
or artifice to defraud a financial institution, or to obtain property
owned by or under the control of a financial institution, by means
of false or fraudulent pretenses, representation, or promises.
Bankruptcy
Fraud
- The act of
filing a false bankruptcy claim.
Civil
Fraud
- An intentional—but
not willful—evasion of taxes.
Constructive
Fraud
- Unintentional
deception or misrepresentation that causes injury to another.
Credit
Card Fraud
- Examples of
Credit Card Fraud include: Illegal counterfeiting of credit cards,
the use of lost or stolen credit cards, and obtaining credit cards
fraudulently through the mail.
Criminal
Fraud
- The willful
evasion of taxes accomplished by filing a fraudulent tax return.
Extrinsic
Fraud
- Deception that
is collateral to the issues being considered in the case; intentional
misrepresentation or deceptive behavior outside the transaction
itself, depriving one party of informed consent or full participation.
Health
Care Fraud
- Any scheme
involving the health care industry that is designed for illegal
financial gain, including: Billing for services not rendered, inflating
the cost of the service provided, the deliberate sale of medically
unnecessary services, and the payment of "kickbacks," or illegal
payments designed to guarantee awarding of a contract or the exclusive
right to provide a service.
Insurance
Fraud
- Fraud committed
against an insurer, as when an insured lies on a policy application
or fabricates a claim.
Intrinsic
Fraud
- Deception that
pertains to an issue involved in an original action. • Examples
include the use of fabricated evidence, a false return of service,
perjured testimony, and false receipts or other commercial documents.
Investment
Fraud
- This form of
fraud occurs when an adviser, stockbroker, or brokerage firm offers
investors biased, unfounded, or contradictory investment advice
out of a conflict of interest.
Mail
Fraud
- An act of fraud
using the U.S. Postal Service, as in making false representations
through the mail to obtain an economic advantage.
Promissory
Fraud
- A promise to
perform made when the promiser had no intention of performing the
promise.
Securities
Fraud
- The crime of
knowingly making any materially misleading statement, or failing
to disclose a material fact, in connection with the purchase or
sale of a security.
- Tax Fraud
- See Tax
Fraud
- Wire Fraud
- An act of fraud
using electronic communications, as by making false representations
on the telephone to obtain money.
Hate
Crimes
- A hate crime, generally,
refers to a crime committed not out of animosity toward a victim as
an individual, but out of hostility toward the group to which the victim
belongs.
Homicide
- The killing of
one person by another. This is the generic legal term for killing a
person, whether lawfully or unlawfully. Unlawful homicide comprises
the two crimes of murder and manslaughter.
Criminal
Homicide
- Homicide prohibited
and punishable by law, such as murder or manslaughter.
Excusable
Homicide
- Homicide resulting
from a person's lawful act, committed without intention to harm
another.
Justifiable
Homicide
- The killing
of another in self-defense when faced with the danger of death or
serious bodily injury. (same as excusable homicide)
Negligent
Homicide
- Homicide resulting
from the careless performance of a legal or illegal act in which
the danger of death is apparent; the killing of a human being by
criminal negligence.
Reckless
Homicide
- The unlawful
killing of another person with conscious indifference toward that
person's life.
Vehicular
Homicide
- The killing
of another person by one's unlawful or negligent operation of a
motor vehicle.
Identity
Theft
- Identity Theft
primarily involves either "true name" or "account takeover" fraud. With
"true name" someone uses a consumer's personal information to open new
accounts in his or her name. With "account takeover" someone gains access
to a person's existing account(s) and makes fraudulent charges. Another
form of identity theft occurs when a criminal provides a victim's personal
information to law enforcement when the criminal gets arrested. The
victim may then have a criminal record or outstanding warrants attached
to their name without even realizing it.
Indecent
Exposure
- An offensive display
of one's own body in public, especially of the genitals.
Lewdness
- Gross, wanton,
and public indecency that is outlawed by many state statutes; a sexual
act that the actor knows will likely be observed by someone who will
be affronted or alarmed by it.
Mayhem
- Dismemberment or
permanent disfigurement.
Manslaughter
- The unlawful killing
of a human being without malice aforethought.
Involuntary
Manslaughter
- Homicide in
which there is no intention to kill or do grievous bodily harm,
but that is committed with criminal negligence or during the commission
of a crime not included within the felony-murder rule.
Voluntary
manslaughter
- An act of murder
reduced to manslaughter because of extenuating circumstances such
as adequate provocation (arousing the "heat of passion") or diminished
capacity.
Molestation
- 1.
The persecution or harassment of someone, as in the molestation of a
witness. 2. The act of making unwanted and indecent
advances to or on someone, especially for sexual gratification.
Child
Molestation
- Any indecent
or sexual activity on, involving, or surrounding a child, usually
under the age of 14.
Money
Laundering
- The federal crime
of transferring illegally obtained money through legitimate persons
or accounts so that its original source cannot be traced.
Murder
- The killing of
a human being with malice aforethought.
Depraved-heart
murder.
- A murder resulting
from an act so reckless and careless of the safety of others that
it demonstrates the perpetrator's complete lack of regard for human
life.
Felony
Murder
- Murder that
occurs during the commission of a felony.
First-degree
murder
- Murder that
is willful, deliberate, or premeditated, or that is committed during
the course of another serious felony (often limited to rape, kidnapping,
robbery, burglary, or arson). • All murder perpetrated by poisoning
or by lying in wait is considered first-degree murder.
Second-degree
murder
- Murder that
is not aggravated by any of the circumstances of first-degree murder.
Obscenity
- Any form of expression,
such as a book, painting, photograph, movie, or play, that deals with
sex in a way that is regarded as so offensive as to be beyond the protection
of the constitutional guarantee of freedom of speech. Under the most
recent of the Supreme Court's efforts to define obscenity, the term
applies to material that appeals to prurient interest, depicts, or describes
sexual conduct in a way that is patently offensive, and lacks "serious
literary, artistic, political, or scientific value."
Pandering
- 1.
The act or offense of recruiting a prostitute, finding a place of business
for a prostitute, or soliciting customers for a prostitute. 2.
The act or offense of selling or distributing textual or visual material
openly advertised to appeal to the recipient's sexual interest.
Perjury
- The act or an instance
of a person's deliberately making material false or misleading statements
while under oath.
Pornography
- Pictures and/or
writings of sexual activity intended solely to excite lascivious feelings
of a particularly blatant and aberrational kind, such as acts involving
children, animals, orgies, and all types of sexual intercourse.
Prostitution
- The crime of engaging
in sexual intercourse or other sexual activity for hire.
Pyramid
Schemes
- Pyramid Schemes
may involve a structure that is laid out like a pyramid, with one person
at the top, two persons on the next level, four on the next and eight
on the next. The structure may also be circular with one person at the
center, two on the next, four on the next and eight persons on the outer
circle. The circular structure is merely a view of a pyramid looking
from the top down.
Racketeer
Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO)
- A federal statute
enacted in 1970 and subsequently copied in many state statutes (informally
called "Little Rico" statutes), designed to attack organized crime by
providing special criminal penalties and civil liabilities for persons
who engage in, or derive money from, repeated instances of certain types
of crime.
Rape
- Unlawful sexual
activity with a person without consent and usually by force or threat
of injury.
Date
Rape
- Rape committed
by someone known to the victim, especially by the victim's social
companion.
Marital
Rape
- A husband's
sexual intercourse with his wife by force or without her consent.
Statutory
Rape
- Unlawful sexual
intercourse with a person under the age of consent, regardless of
whether it is against that person's will.
Self-Defense
- The use of reasonable
force against an aggressor by one who reasonably believes it necessary
in order to avoid imminent bodily harm. Self-defense is a justification
for conduct that would otherwise be a crime.
Sexual
Harassment
- A form of unlawful
employment discrimination consisting of harassment of an employee or
group of employees, usually women. This may take the form of requiring
or seeking sexual favors as a condition of employment (quid pro quo
harassment) or otherwise subjecting an employee to intimidation, ridicule,
or insult because of her sex, whether or not the harassing conduct is
sexual in nature.
Sexual
Offense
- General term used
to describe a crime of a sexual nature.
Sodomy
- A term varying
in meaning from state to state, but generally referring to any type
of sex act regarded by a legislature as "unnatural" or "perverted" In
the narrowest and most traditional sense, the term refers to anal sexual
intercourse between men, but it may extend to those or other acts between
men and women (sometimes exemption married couples, sometimes not),
or women and women, or people and animals. Also called a crime against
nature, or an unnatural act.
Stalking
- The act of threatening,
harassing, or annoying someone, especially with the intent of placing
the recipient in fear that an illegal act or an injury will be inflicted
on the recipient or a member of the recipient's family or household.
Tax
Evasion
- The willful attempt
to defeat or circumvent the tax law in order to illegally reduce one's
tax liability.
Tax
Fraud
- The crime of intentionally
filing a false tax return or making other false statements under penalties
of perjury to taxing authorities.
Terrorism
- Politically motivated
violence or intimidation directed against a civilian population by a
subgroup within a population, by an outside group, or by clandestine
agents of another country.
Theft
- 1.
The felonious taking and removing of another's personal property with
the intent to permanently deprive the true owner thereof; larceny. 2.
Broadly, any act or instance of stealing, including larceny, burglary,
embezzlement, and false pretenses.
- Cybertheft
- See Cybertheft.
Theft
By Deception
- The use of
deception to obtain another's property.
Theft
By False Pretext
- The use of
a false pretext to obtain another's property.
Theft
Of Services
- The act of
obtaining services from another by deception, threat, coercion,
stealth, mechanical tampering, or using a false token or device.
Writs
- An order from a
higher court to a lower court or to a government official such as a
prison warden.
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