Common Misconceptions Regarding Crime

One of my pet peeves is the incorrect usage of terms as they relate to crimes.

For instance, a house can be burglarized. A person can't. A person can be robbed. A house can't. A house cannot be robbed, only burglarized.

Assault and Battery are not the same thing. Assault is the threat of an attack. Battery is the physical contact of that threat. A person can be assaulted without battery.

Blood spatters, it doesn' splatter.

A person is not found INNOCENT when a jury comes back with a not guilty verdict. He or she is NOT GUILTY instead. There's a big difference. TV anchor people make this mistake A LOT. A person can be found NOT GUILTY but actually be guilty of committing the crime. Simply because there was not enough evidence to convict with a "GUILTY" verdict, the jury often returns a "Not Guilty" verdict. So if a person is not guilty, it is possible that he/she is not innocent of the crime.

A hung jury is a term indicating that the jury could not reach a unanimous decision. It is not an indicaton of a not guilty status or verdict. A hung jury is still considered a mistrial.

A person can be tried for the same crime as many times as it takes to get a verdict. Double jeopardy only occurs if a person is attempted to be tried for the same crime after being found not guilty in the first trial.

A projectile is not a bullet and a bullet is not a projectile.

Bullets are not housed in a "clip" in a semi-automatic weapon. They are housed in a magazine.

Bullet casings are not "shells."

You never pick up a gun at a crime scene by putting a pencil in the gun barrel.

You don't use a pencil to shade in the indentations found on notepads at a crime scene to see what was written on the paper above.

People can be hanged, not hung. Pictures are hung on walls.

Criminalists are not criminals. They are crime scene specialsists.

Polygraph Exams (Lie Detector tests) are not admissible as evidence in court.

Voice Identification is not admissible as evidence in court.

Criminals do not always return to the scene of the crime.

There's no such thing as a victimless crime.

I can go on and on....