Criminal Law and Procedure
Core criminal-law vocabulary covering charges, pretrial procedure, constitutional safeguards, and common prosecution terms.
This section explains the vocabulary readers meet in criminal investigations, charging decisions, pretrial hearings, and constitutional procedure.
Use it to understand how a case moves from suspicion and probable cause through charging, arraignment, bail, plea discussions, and trial-related evidence standards.
Key topics in this section include:
If you need the adjacent evidence concepts that shape criminal trials, continue into Evidence and Trial Practice.
In this section
- Arraignment
An arraignment is an early court appearance where charges are presented and the defendant is asked to enter a plea.
- Bail
Bail is the mechanism courts use to decide whether a defendant may remain out of custody while a criminal case is pending and on what conditions.
- Felony
A felony is a more serious category of crime that usually carries heavier penalties and more formal criminal procedure consequences than a misdemeanor.
- Indictment
An indictment is a formal criminal charge, often issued after grand jury review, accusing a person of a serious offense.
- Miranda Rights
Miranda rights are the warnings police must generally give before custodial interrogation so a suspect understands key constitutional protections.
- Misdemeanor
A misdemeanor is a lower-level criminal offense that usually carries lighter penalties and fewer severe collateral consequences than a felony.
- Plea Bargain
A plea bargain is a negotiated criminal-case resolution in which the defendant agrees to plead guilty or no contest under agreed terms.
- Probable Cause
Probable cause is the level of factual justification that usually supports arrests, search warrants, and some criminal charging decisions.
- Reasonable Suspicion
Reasonable suspicion is a lower legal threshold than probable cause and can justify limited investigative police action in some circumstances.
- Search Warrant
A search warrant is a judicial authorization allowing law enforcement to search a place, person, or item for evidence based on probable cause.