Terms Used In Montana Code > Title 44 > Chapter 5 - Criminal Justice Information

• Access: means the ability to read, change, copy, use, transfer, or disseminate criminal justice information maintained by criminal justice agencies. See Montana Code 44-5-103
• Acquittal:
  1. Judgement that a criminal defendant has not been proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
  2. A verdict of "not guilty."
   
• Administration of criminal justice: means the performance of any of the following activities: detection, apprehension, detention, pretrial release, posttrial release, prosecution, adjudication, correctional supervision, or rehabilitation of accused persons or criminal offenders. See Montana Code 44-5-103
• Allegation: something that someone says happened.
• Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
• Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Appellate: About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgement of another lower court or tribunal.
• Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Bail: Security given for the release of a criminal defendant or witness from legal custody (usually in the form of money) to secure his/her appearance on the day and time appointed.
• Confidential criminal justice information: means :

  (a)criminal investigative information;

  (b)criminal intelligence information;

  (c)fingerprints and investigative or intelligence photographs;

  (d)criminal justice information or records made confidential by law; and

  (e)any other criminal justice information not clearly defined as public criminal justice information. See Montana Code 44-5-103

• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Criminal history record information: means information about individuals collected by criminal justice agencies consisting of identifiable descriptions and notations of arrests; detentions; the filing of complaints, indictments, or informations and dispositions arising from complaints, indictments, or informations; sentences; correctional status; and release. See Montana Code 44-5-103
• Criminal intelligence information: means information associated with an identifiable individual, group, organization, or event compiled by a criminal justice agency:

  (i)in the course of conducting an investigation relating to a major criminal conspiracy, projecting potential criminal operation, or producing an estimate of future major criminal activities; or

  (ii)in relation to the reliability of information, including information derived from reports of informants or investigators or from any type of surveillance. See Montana Code 44-5-103

• Criminal investigative information: means information associated with an individual, group, organization, or event compiled by a criminal justice agency in the course of conducting an investigation of a crime or crimes. See Montana Code 44-5-103
• Criminal justice agency: means :

  (a)any court with criminal jurisdiction;

  (b)any federal, state, or local government agency designated by statute or by a governor's executive order to perform as its principal function the administration of criminal justice, including a governmental fire agency organized under Title 7, chapter 33, or a fire marshal who conducts criminal investigations of fires;

  (c)any local government agency not included under subsection (7)(b) that performs as its principal function the administration of criminal justice pursuant to an ordinance or local executive order; or

  (d)any agency of a foreign nation that has been designated by that nation's law or chief executive officer to perform as its principal function the administration of criminal justice and that has been approved for the receipt of criminal justice information by the Montana attorney general, who may consult with the United States department of justice. See Montana Code 44-5-103

• Criminal justice information: means information relating to criminal justice collected, processed, or preserved by a criminal justice agency. See Montana Code 44-5-103
• Criminal justice information system: means a system, automated or manual, operated by foreign, federal, regional, state, or local governments or governmental organizations for collecting, processing, preserving, or disseminating criminal justice information. See Montana Code 44-5-103
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• Disposition: means information disclosing that criminal proceedings against an individual have terminated and describing the nature of the termination or information relating to sentencing, correctional supervision, release from correctional supervision, the outcome of appellate or collateral review of criminal proceedings, or executive clemency. See Montana Code 44-5-103
• Dissemination: means the communication or transfer of criminal justice information to individuals or agencies other than the criminal justice agency that maintains the information. See Montana Code 44-5-103
• Fingerprints: means the recorded friction ridge skin of the fingers, palms, or soles of the feet. See Montana Code 44-5-103
• Indictment: The formal charge issued by a grand jury stating that there is enough evidence that the defendant committed the crime to justify having a trial; it is used primarily for felonies.
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Nolo contendere: No contest-has the same effect as a plea of guilty, as far as the criminal sentence is concerned, but may not be considered as an admission of guilt for any other purpose.
• Person: includes a corporation or other entity as well as a natural person. See Montana Code 1-1-201
• Plea: In a criminal case, the defendant's statement pleading "guilty" or "not guilty" in answer to the charges, a declaration made in open court.
• Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
• Process: means a writ or summons issued in the course of judicial proceedings. See Montana Code 1-1-202
• Public criminal justice information: means :

  (a)information made public by law;

  (b)information of court records and proceedings;

  (c)information of convictions, deferred sentences, and deferred prosecutions;

  (d)information of postconviction proceedings and status;

  (e)information originated by a criminal justice agency, including:

  (i)initial offense reports;

  (ii)initial arrest records, including booking photographs;

  (iii)bail records; and

  (iv)daily jail occupancy rosters;

  (f)information considered necessary by a criminal justice agency to secure public assistance in the apprehension of a suspect; or

  (g)statistical information. See Montana Code 44-5-103

• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
• State repository: means the recordkeeping systems maintained by the department of justice pursuant to 44-2-201 in which criminal history record information is collected, processed, preserved, and disseminated. See Montana Code 44-5-103
• Statistical information: means data derived from records in which individuals are not identified or identification is deleted and from which neither individual identity nor any other unique characteristic that could identify an individual is ascertainable. See Montana Code 44-5-103
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• United States: includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Montana Code 1-1-201