Criminal Law Abbreviations
46 abbreviations · part of Legal Abbreviations
Abbreviations from criminal courts, sentencing, corrections and post-conviction practice: release terms (ROR, FTA), legal standards (PC, RS), plea and diversion programs (ACD, PTI, ARD), sentencing documents and rules (PSI, PSR, USSG) and prison terms (BOP, SHU, LWOP). Several diversion programs and their abbreviations exist in only one state, which each entry notes. Police radio codes and DUI terms are covered with law enforcement abbreviations; entries here are general information, not legal advice.
| Abbreviation | Stands for | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 5K | Substantial assistance departure (U.S.S.G. § 5K1.1) | Federal sentencing motion, named for the guideline section, in which prosecutors ask the court to sentence below the guidelines range because the defendant gave… |
| ACD | Adjournment in contemplation of dismissal | New York disposition in which a criminal case is adjourned and then dismissed and sealed if the defendant stays out of trouble and meets any conditions for a set… |
| ADW | Assault with a deadly weapon | Aggravated assault charge involving a weapon or object capable of causing death or serious injury, such as a gun, knife, vehicle or bat. |
| ARD | Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition | Pennsylvania pretrial diversion program for first-time offenders charged with less serious crimes, including many first DUI cases. |
| B&E | Breaking and entering | Unlawful entry into a building or vehicle by force or other means, often with intent to commit a crime inside. |
| BOP | Federal Bureau of Prisons | Agency within the US Department of Justice, created in 1930, that operates federal prisons and detention centers and contracts for halfway houses for people convicted… |
| BW | Bench warrant | Arrest warrant issued by a judge from the bench, usually because a defendant or witness failed to appear in court or to obey a court order such as paying fines. |
| CDS | Controlled dangerous substance | Term used in the drug laws of Maryland, New Jersey, Oklahoma and some other states for drugs regulated by schedule, equivalent to "controlled substance" in federal law. |
| CI | Confidential informant | Person who secretly provides information to police about criminal activity, often in exchange for money, leniency on their own charges or other benefits. |
| CO | Correctional officer | Officer who maintains security and order in a prison or jail, supervising inmates, conducting counts and searches and responding to incidents. |
| COA | Certificate of appealability | Permission a prisoner needs before appealing the denial of a federal habeas corpus petition or a § 2255 motion. |
| cr | Criminal (case-type code) | Code in federal docket numbers identifying a criminal case, as in "1:23-cr-00123", where 1 is the court division or office, 23 the year filed, cr the case type and… |
| CW | Cooperating witness | Person, often charged or under investigation, who provides information or testimony to prosecutors in exchange for potential leniency, such as reduced charges or a… |
| DOC | Department of Corrections | State agency, and in some places a county or city agency, that runs prisons and often supervises people on probation or parole. |
| DPA | Deferred prosecution agreement | Agreement in which prosecutors file charges, usually against a company, but defer prosecution for a set period while the defendant pays penalties, cooperates and meets… |
| DV | Domestic violence | Abuse, threats or violence between intimate partners, spouses, family or household members. |
| FTA | Failure to appear | Failure of a defendant to attend a required court date. |
| GBMI | Guilty but mentally ill | Verdict available in some states that finds a defendant guilty and criminally responsible while recognizing a mental illness that fell short of legal insanity. |
| GCT | Good conduct time | Credit that federal prisoners earn toward early release for good behavior, up to 54 days for each year of the sentence imposed. |
| GJ | Grand jury | Group of citizens, 16 to 23 in the federal system, that hears evidence presented by prosecutors in secret and decides whether there is probable cause to indict someone… |
| IAC | Ineffective assistance of counsel | Claim that a defendant's lawyer performed so poorly that the defendant was denied the Sixth Amendment right to counsel, warranting a new trial or plea proceeding. |
| IST | Incompetent to stand trial | Finding that a defendant cannot be tried because a mental illness or intellectual disability prevents them from understanding the proceedings or assisting in their own… |
| LWOP | Life without parole | Sentence of imprisonment for the rest of the person's life with no possibility of release on parole, imposed for the most serious crimes such as murder. |
| Misd. | Misdemeanor | Abbreviation for a criminal offense less serious than a felony, generally punishable by fines, probation or up to a year in a local jail. |
| MPC | Model Penal Code | Model criminal code published by the American Law Institute in 1962 to bring consistency and clarity to American criminal law. |
| NCO | No-contact order | Court order forbidding a defendant from contacting a named person, usually the alleged victim, directly or through others, often as a condition of pretrial release or… |
| NGRI | Not guilty by reason of insanity | Verdict finding that the defendant committed the act but is not criminally responsible because of severe mental illness at the time. |
| NPA | Non-prosecution agreement | Agreement in which prosecutors agree not to file charges against a company or individual in exchange for cooperation, payment of penalties and compliance commitments. |
| PBJ | Probation before judgment | Maryland disposition in which the court defers entering a guilty finding and places the defendant on probation; if probation is completed successfully, the person is… |
| PC | Probable cause | Legal standard in US criminal law requiring facts and circumstances that would lead a reasonable person to believe a crime was committed and that a particular person… |
| PCR | Post-conviction relief | Proceedings in which a convicted person challenges a conviction or sentence after direct appeal, typically raising issues outside the trial record such as ineffective… |
| PO | Probation officer or parole officer | Officer who supervises people serving probation or parole in the community, enforcing conditions such as drug testing, employment, curfews and treatment, and reporting… |
| PR | Personal recognizance | Release of an arrested person without cash bail on a signed promise to appear in court, sometimes with a set amount owed only if the person fails to appear. |
| PSI | Presentence investigation | Investigation and report prepared by a probation officer before sentencing in state courts, covering the offense, criminal history, family, employment, health… |
| PSR | Presentence report | Report prepared by a US probation officer before federal sentencing that calculates the advisory Sentencing Guidelines range and describes the offense conduct, criminal… |
| PTI | Pretrial intervention | Diversion program, best known in New Jersey, that lets eligible defendants, usually first offenders, avoid prosecution by completing a period of supervision and… |
| PWID | Possession with intent to distribute | Drug charge for possessing a controlled substance with the intent to sell or deliver it, punished more severely than simple possession. |
| RDAP | Residential Drug Abuse Program | Intensive drug treatment program of about 500 hours run by the federal Bureau of Prisons, in which participants live in a separate housing unit for around nine months. |
| ROR | Released on own recognizance | Pretrial release without bail, based on the defendant's written promise to appear at all future court dates. |
| RRC | Residential reentry center | Halfway house contracted by the federal Bureau of Prisons where inmates near the end of their sentences live under supervision while working, seeking jobs and… |
| RS | Reasonable suspicion | Legal standard allowing police to briefly stop and question a person, and frisk for weapons if they reasonably believe the person is armed, based on specific facts… |
| SHU | Special housing unit | Segregated housing area in federal prisons and some state prisons where inmates are held in restrictive confinement, either for discipline or for administrative reasons… |
| USSG | United States Sentencing Guidelines | Rules issued by the US Sentencing Commission that calculate a recommended sentencing range for federal offenses from an offense level and the defendant's criminal… |
| VIS | Victim impact statement | Written or oral statement by a crime victim or the victim's family describing the physical, emotional and financial effects of the crime, presented to the court before… |
| VOP | Violation of probation | Allegation or finding that a person on probation broke a condition of supervision, such as committing a new crime, failing a drug test, missing appointments or not… |
| YO | Youthful offender | Status available in New York and some other states that replaces a criminal conviction with a sealed youthful offender adjudication for eligible young defendants. |