a wrong against society proclaimed in a statue and punishable by society thorough fines and/or imprisonment, or in some cases, death
preponderance of the evidence
a standard in civil law cases under which the plaintiff must convince the court that, based on the evidence presented by both parties, it is more likely than not the plaintiff's allegation is true
beyond a reasonable doubt
the standard used to determine the guilt or innocence of a person criminally charged. It is one that would cause a prudent person to hestitate efore acting in matters important to him her
a crime, such as arson, murder, rape, or robbery, that carries the most severe sanctions, usually ranging from one year in a state or federal prison to the forfeiture of one's life
a lesser crime than a felony, punishable by a fine or imprissonment for up to one year in other than a state or federal penitentiary
in criminal law, the least serious kind of criminal offense, such as a traffic or building code violation
a guilty (prohibited) act. the commission of a prohibited act is one of the two essential elements required for criminal liability, the other element being the intent to commit a crime
mental state or intent. a wrongful mental state is as necessary as a wrongful act to establish criminal liability. What constitutes a mental state varies according to the wrongful action. thus, for murder, the mens rea is the intent to take a life. For theft, this must involve both the knowledge that the property belongs to another and the intent to deprive the owner of it.
the act of forecfully and unlawfully taking personal property of any value from another, force or intimidation is usually necessary for an act of theft to be considered a robbery
the unlawful entry into a building with the intent to commit a felony. some expand this to include the intent to commit any crime
the malicious burning of another's dwelling. some statues have expanded this to include any real property regardless of ownership and the destruction of property by other means, for example by explosion
the fraudulent making or altering of any writing in a way that changes the legal rights and liabilities of another
white collar crime
nonviolent crime committed by individuals or corporations to obtain a personal or business advantage
the fraudelent appropriation of money or other property by a person to whom the money or property has been entrusted
falsely reporting income that has been obtained through criminal activity as income obtained through criminal activity as income obtained through a legitimate business enterprise. "dirty money"
the legally recognized privilee to protect one's self or property against injury by another. the privilege of self defense protects only acts that are reasonably necessary to protect one's self or property
in criminal law, a defense against liability;
this defense is justifiable is "the harm or evil sought to be avoided" by a given action "is greater than that sought to be prevented by the law defining the offense charged"
unlawful pressure brought to bear on a person, causing the person to preform an act that he or she would not otherwise preform
in criminal law, a defens ein which the defendant claims that he or she was induced by a public official, usually an undercover agent or police officer, to commit a crime that he or she would otherwise not have committed
the process by which a criminal defendant and the prosecutor in a criminal case work out a mutually satisfactory disposition of the case, subject to court approval; isially involves the defendant's pleading guilty to a lesser offense in return for a lighter sentence
a situation occurring whren a person is tries twice for the same criminal offfense; prohibited by the 5th ammendment to the constitution
in criminal procedure, a rule under which any evidence that is obtained in violation of the accused's constitutional rights guaranteed by the fourth, fifth,m and sixth ammendments, as well as any evidence derived from illegally obtained evidence, will not be admissible in court
a charge by a greand jury that a reasonable basis (probable cause) exsists for believeing that a crime has been committed and that a trial should be held
a group of citizens called to decide, after hearing the state's evidence, whether a reasonable basis (probable cuase) exists for believeing that a crime has been committed and wheter a trial ought to be held
a formal accusation or complaint (without an indictment) issued in certian types of actions (usually criminal actions involving lesser crimes) by a law officer, such as a magistrate
any wrongful act that is directed against computers and computer parties, or wrongful use or abuse of computers or software
a crime that occurs online, in the virtual community of the internet, as opposed to the physical world
fraud that involves the online theft of credit card information, banking details, and other information of cirminal use
the act of stealing anothers identifyin information, such as name, date of birht, or social security numberm and using that information to access the victims financial resources
an online fraud action that allows criminals to pretend to be legitimate companies either by using emails or malicious web sited that trick individuals and companies into providing useful information, such as bank account numbers, social security numbers,, or credit card numbers
the voice counterpart of phishing, these use an email or a notice on web site that encourage persons to make a phone call which then triggers a voice responde system that asks for valuabl personal information souch as credit card numbers
a person who uses one computer to break into another. professional computer programmers refer to such persons as "crackers"
short for robot networking, a group of computers that run an application that is controlled and manipulated only by the sofware source. although sometimes a legitimate network, usually this term is reserved for a group of computers that have been infected by malicious robot software. in a botnet, each connected computer becomes a zombie, or drone.
a type of virus that is designes to copy itself form one computer to another without human interaction. unlike the typical virus, this can copy itself automatically and can replicate in great volume and great speed.
any program transmitted between computers via the internet generally without the knowledge or consent of the recipient. viruses attempt to do deliberate damage to systems and data