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A convict is "a person found guilty of a crime and sentenced by a court" or "a person serving a sentence in prison". [1] Convicts are often also known as "prisoners" or "inmates" or by the slang term "con", [2] while a common label for former convicts, especially those recently released from prison, is "ex-con" ("ex-convict").
[citation needed] In 2012, the court later ruled in Miller v. Alabama that offenders under the age of 18 must be eligible for parole if sentenced to life imprisonment even for those convicted of murder except if the child is declared to be "permanently incorrigible" meaning the child will never improve their behavior.
In most common law jurisdictions, an element of a crime is one of a set of facts that must all be proven to convict a defendant of a crime. Before a court finds a defendant guilty of a criminal offense, the prosecution must present evidence that, even when opposed by any evidence the defense may choose, is credible and sufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant committed ...
Mandatory sentencing requires that people convicted of certain crimes serve a predefined term of imprisonment, removing the discretion of judges to take issues such as extenuating circumstances and a person's likelihood of rehabilitation into consideration when sentencing. Research shows the discretion of sentencing is effectively shifted to ...
In May 2011, a U.S. Supreme Court upheld a decision against the state of California that required reducing the prison population to avoid overcrowding. A federal three-judge panel had ordered ...
Chimel v. California, 395 U.S. 752 (1969), was a 1969 United States Supreme Court case in which the court held that police officers arresting a person at his home could not search the entire home without a search warrant, but that police may search the area within immediate reach of the person without a warrant. [1]
When a defendant is sentenced to a prison sentence under one year, the default is suspension "if there are reasons to believe that the sentence itself will serve as sufficient warning to the convicted person". Courts can impose requirements on offenders (e.g. residency, non-contact, drug rehabilitation) as part of the suspended sentence, and ...
The Dictionary of Politics: Selected American and Foreign Political and Legal Terms defines the term "Alford plea" as: "A plea under which a defendant may choose to plead guilty, not because of an admission to the crime, but because the prosecutor has sufficient evidence to place a charge and to obtain conviction in court. The plea is commonly ...