criminal verdicts
Guilty or acquitted
Criminal verdicts are the formal decisions reached in criminal trials—guilty, not guilty, or in some jurisdictions, not proven.
The verdict represents the jury's or judge's conclusion about whether the prosecution proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt.
The jury returned guilty verdicts on all counts.
A verdict differs from a sentence, which comes after conviction and determines punishment.
- guiltyResponsible for wrongdoing
- guilty pleaAdmitting criminal responsibility
- plea bargainNegotiated criminal case resolution
- innocentFree from moral wrong
- acquittalFormal clearing of charges
conviction · sentenced · jury · jury deliberation · judge · gavel · courtroom · court of law · deliberation · foreman · unanimous · hung · mistrial · beyond reasonable doubt · defendant · prison · freedom · appeal
criminal verdictsacquittals
Verdicts freeing defendants
dismissals · exonerations · charges dropped · mistrials · hung jury
criminal verdictscriminal charges
Formal accusations of lawbreaking
indictments · accusations · arraignments · criminal complaints · preliminary hearings
criminal, criminals, criminally, criminality, crime, crimes, incriminate, incrimination, criminalize