Procedural defense

From Free net encyclopedia

---

Current revision

Template:Mergeto Template:CrimPro In jurisprudence, procedural defenses are a form of defense, via which a defendant may argue that they should not be held criminally liable for breaking the law, as the criminal justice program violated procedural law as it was creating its case, and trial, against said defendant. Such defenses tend to be unpopular with the public, as they allow a person who is clearly guilty of a crime to "get off on a technicality"; absent such defenses, however, there is little to prevent the government from abusing certain prosecutorial powers in order to secure the conviction of innocent persons.

In the United States, procedural defenses include:

• collateral estoppel
• denial of a speedy trial
• double jeopardy
• entrapment
• prosecutorial misconduct
• selective prosecution.

See also

• legal technicality