Criminal Defense Terms and Definitions

Restitution Court-ordered payment to restore goods or money to the victim of a crime by the offender. Fourth Amendment The 4th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects every person against unreasonable search and seizure by government officials. Battery Actual physical violence, whether serious or minor, inflicted on a person. (A mere threat is called assault, whereas the completed act is called battery) Embezzlement The fraudulent appropriation by a person to his own use or benefit of property or money entrusted to him by another. Manslaughter A person recklessly causes the death of another, or acting under extreme emotional disturbance, causes the death of another, or acting under circumstances when a person reasonably believes the circumstances provide a legal justification or excuse for his conduct constitutes manslaughter. Admissible evidence Evidence which can legally and properly be used in court. Burglary The unlawful breaking into or entering of a building or dwelling with the intent to commit a serious crime or theft. Fourteenth Amendment Among other matters, the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibits states from depriving any person of life, liberty, or property without adequate due process. Fraud An intentional perversion of truth; deceitful practice or device resorted to with intent to deprive another of property or other right. Search warrant An order issued by a judge or magistrate commanding a sheriff, constable, or other officer to search a specified location.

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	Did You Know?
	Res Ipsa Loquitur - Literally, "a thing that speaks for itself." In tort law, the doctrine which holds a defendant guilty of negligence without an actual showing that he or she was negligent. Its use is limited in theory to cases in which the cause of the plaintiff's injury was entirely under the control of the defendant, and the injury presumably could have been caused only by negligence.