AP Style | Crime & Court Entry

accused, alleged, suspected

A person is accused of, not with, a crime.To avoid any suggestion that an individual is being judged before a trial, do not use a phrase such as accused slayer John Jones or the accused slayer; alleged killer Ralph Hornsby or the alleged killer; suspected shooter Carmine Jablonski or the suspected shooter. Instead: John Jones, accused of the slaying or Ralph Hornsby, charged with killing the man.

agent

Lowercase unless it is a formal title used before a name.In the FBI, the formal title is special agent. In most cases, make it agent William Smith or FBI agent William Smith.

admit, admitted

These words may in some contexts give the erroneous connotation of wrongdoing. People who say they are recovering from alcoholism, for example, are not admitting it. Said is usually sufficient.

allege

The word must be used with great care. Some guidelines: Avoid any suggestion that the writer is making an allegation. Specify the source of an allegation. In a criminal case, it should be an arrest record, an indictment or the statement of a public official connected with the case. Use alleged bribe or similar phrase when necessary to make it clear that an unproved action is not being treated as fact. Be sure that the source of the charge is specified elsewhere in the story. Avoid, where possible, alleged victim. It is too easily construed as skepticism of a victim's account. Avoid redundant uses of alleged. It is proper to say: The district attorney alleged that she took a bribe. Or: The district attorney accused her of taking a bribe. But not: The district attorney accused her of allegedly taking a bribe. Do not use alleged to describe an event that is known to have occurred, when the dispute is over who participated in it. Do not say: He attended the alleged meeting when what you mean is: He allegedly attended the meeting. Do not use alleged as a routine qualifier. Instead, use a word such as apparent, ostensible or reputed.

arrest

To avoid any suggestion that someone is being judged before a trial, do not use a phrase such as arrested for killing. Instead, use arrested on a charge of killing. If a charge hasn’t been filed, arrested on suspicion of, or a similar phrase, should be used.

assassin, killer, murderer

An assassin is one who kills a politically important or prominent person.A killer is anyone who kills with a motive of any kind.A murderer is one who is convicted of murder in a court of law.Preferred use: Joe Smith was convicted of second-degree murder.

assassination, date of

A prominent person is shot one day and dies the next. Which day was he assassinated? The day he was attacked.

assault, battery

Assault almost always implies physical contact and sudden, intense violence.Legally, however, assault means simply to threaten violence, as in pointing a pistol at an individual without firing it. Assault and battery is the legal term when the victim was touched by the assaulter or something the assaulter put in motion.

attorney, lawyer

In common usage the words are interchangeable.Technically, however, an attorney is someone (usually, but not necessarily, a lawyer) empowered to act for another. Such an individual occasionally is called an attorney in fact.A lawyer is a person admitted to practice in a court system. Such an individual occasionally is called an attorney at law.Do not abbreviate. Do not capitalize unless it is an officeholder's title: defense attorney Perry Mason, attorney Perry Mason, District Attorney Hamilton Burger.Power of attorney is a written statement legally authorizing a person to act for another.

bail

Bail is money or property that will be forfeited to the court if an accused individual fails to appear for trial. It may be posted as follows:–The accused may deposit with the court the full amount or its equivalent in collateral such as a deed to property.–A friend or relative may make such a deposit with the court.–The accused may pay a professional bail bondsman a percentage of the total figure. The bondsman, in turn, guarantees the court that it will receive from him the full amount in the event the individual fails to appear for trial.It is correct in all cases to say that an accused posted bail or posted a bail bond (the money held by the court is a form of bond). When a distinction is desired, say that the individual posted his own bail, that bail was posted by a friend or relative, or that bail was obtained through a bondsman.

burglary, larceny, robbery, theft

Legal definitions of burglary vary, but in general a burglary involves entering a building (not necessarily by breaking in) and remaining unlawfully with the intention of committing a crime.Larceny is the legal term for the wrongful taking of property. Its nonlegal equivalents are stealing or theft.Robbery in the legal sense involves the use of violence or threat in committing larceny. In a wider sense it means to plunder or rifle, and may thus be used even if a person was not present: His house was robbed while he was away.Theft describes a larceny that did not involve threat, violence or plundering.USAGE NOTE: You rob a person, bank, house, etc., but you steal the money or the jewels.

civil cases, criminal cases

A civil case is one in which an individual, business or agency of government seeks damages or relief from another individual, business or agency of government. Civil actions generally involve a charge that a contract has been breached or that someone has been wronged or injured. A criminal case is one that the state or the federal government brings against an individual charged with committing a crime.

convict

(v.) Follow with preposition of, not for: He was convicted of murder.

defense

Do not use it as a verb.

defense attorney

Always lowercase, never abbreviate.

deputy

Capitalize as a formal title before a name.

**detective

Never abbreviate. Capitalize as a formal title before a name: Columbia Police Detective Casey Smith, Police Detective Casey Smith.

district attorney

Capitalize when used as a formal title before a name: District Attorney Hamilton Burger.DA acceptable on second reference.

DUI, DWI

Abbreviations for driving under the influence or driving while intoxicated. Acceptable in all references.

felony, misdemeanor

A felony is a serious crime. A misdemeanor is a minor offense against the law.A fuller definition of what constitutes a felony or misdemeanor depends on the governmental jurisdiction involved. At the federal level, a misdemeanor is a crime that carries a potential penalty of no more than a year in jail. A felony is a crime that carries a potential penalty of more than a year in prison. Often, however, a statute gives a judge options such as imposing a fine or probation in addition to or instead of a jail or prison sentence. A felon is a person who has been convicted of a felony, regardless of whether the individual actually spends time in confinement or is given probation or a fine instead. Convicted felon is redundant.

first degree, first-degree

Hyphenate when used as a compound modifier: It was murder in the first degree. He was convicted of first-degree murder.

forcible rape

A redundancy that usually should be avoided. It may be used, however, in stories dealing with both rape and statutory rape, which does not necessarily involve the use of force.

grand jury

Always lowercase: a Los Angeles County grand jury, the grand jury.This style has been adopted because, unlike the case with city council and similar governmental units, a jurisdiction frequently has more than one grand jury session.

habeas corpus

A writ ordering a person in custody to be brought before a court. It places the burden of proof on those detaining the person to justify the detention.When habeas corpus is used in a story, define it.

*Boone County Courthouse

Located at 705 E. Walnut St. This is not the same building as the Roger B. Wilson Boone County Government Center.

*Circuit Court

• Always use the 13th Circuit Court on first reference because it encompasses Boone and Callaway counties. It can also be referred to as the 13th Circuit Court for Boone County or for Callaway County. On second reference, use the Circuit Court or the court. Do not use the Boone County Circuit Court because there is no such entity.
• The Circuit Court has three classifications of judges: circuit, associate circuit and municipal. The first two hear all civil, criminal, juvenile and probate cases; the third type hears cases involving city ordinances.
• There are 10 divisions within the 13th Circuit Court; refer to them by Roman numeral: Division IX for Division 9. Missouri circuit courts are courts of original civil and criminal jurisdiction. That is, cases usually begin in the circuit court, which is where trials might occur. Within the circuit court, there are various divisions, such as the associate circuit, small claims, municipal, family, probate, criminal and juvenile. Missouri’s counties and the city of St. Louis are organized into 45 judicial circuits. There is a court in every county. The circuit court is typically in the county seat and might be in additional locations in the county.

*Columbia Law Department

The department has two branches:

• City Counselor’s Office, 701 E. Broadway, includes the city counselor and two assistant counselors. It is responsible for the management of litigation involving the city, preparing and enforcing city ordinances and resolutions and preparing contracts and leases.
• City Prosecutor’s Office, 600 E. Broadway, includes the city prosecutor and one assistant prosecutor. It handles the prosecution of city offices, which involves arraignments and judge-tried cases in Municipal Court, jury trials in Circuit Court and de novo appeals in Circuit Court.

*Missouri Court of Appeals

This appellate court has three districts: St. Louis (Eastern District), Kansas City (Western District) and Springfield (Southern District). Boone County is in the Kansas City District.

*Missouri Supreme Court

The state’s highest court is headed by a chief justice and six judges (not justices). On second reference, use the state high court or the state Supreme Court.

*SWAT

Use the SWAT Team or the team on all references to the Columbia team. For others, make sure the acronym stands for Special Weapons and Tactics. If not, spell out the unit’s name on first reference and use the acronym on subsequent references. The Columbia team is operated by the Columbia Police Department and responds to situations deemed beyond the realm of normal patrol work. Examples would be hostage situations or riots.

*Boone County Sheriff’s Department’s Cyber Crimes Task Force

This is the name for the agency previously called the Mid-Missouri Internet Crimes Task Force. The task force consists of three full-time Boone County detectives, one part-time officer from the MU Police Department and one part-time agent from the FBI. Use task forceon second reference.

*Missouri State Highway Patrol

Capitalized.

homicide, murder, manslaughter

Homicide is a legal term for slaying or killing. Murder is malicious, premeditated homicide. Some states define certain homicides as murder if the killing occurs in the course of armed robbery, rape, etc. Generally speaking, manslaughter is homicide without malice or premeditation.A homicide should not be described as murder unless a person has been convicted of that charge. Do not say that a victim was murdered until someone has been convicted in court. Instead, say that a victim was killed or slain. Do not write that X was charged with murdering Y. Use the formal charge murder and, if not already in the story, specify the nature of the killing shooting, stabbing, beating, poisoning, drowning, etc.: Jones was charged with murder in the shooting of his girlfriend. Examples: An officer pulled over 29-year-old John White, who was arrested and charged with murder, according to Andrew Johnson, the county sheriff's spokesman. The 66-year-old amateur photographer has pleaded not guilty to four counts of first-degree murder in the slaying of four women. The killings occurred between 1977 and 1979. Prosecutors say Adams raped, tortured and robbed some of them before killing them. Cook County Sheriff James Jones says a shooting that left a man and a woman dead appears to be a murder-suicide.

illegal

Except in sports and game contexts, use illegal only to mean a violation of the law. Be especially careful in labor-management disputes, where one side often calls an action by the other side illegal. Usually it is a charge that a contract or rule, not a law, has been violated.

indict

Use indict only in connection with the legal process of bringing charges against an individual or corporation.To avoid any suggestion that someone is being judged before a trial, do not use phrases such as indicted for killing or indicted for bribery. Instead, use indicted on a charge of killing or indicted on a bribery charge.

innocent, not guilty

In court cases, plea situations and trials, not guilty is preferable to innocent, because it is more precise legally. (However, special care must be taken to prevent omission of the word not.) When possible, say a defendant was acquitted of criminal charges.

prison, jail

Do not use the two words interchangeably. DEFINITIONS: Prison is a generic term that may be applied to the maximum security institutions often known as penitentiaries and to the medium security facilities often called correctional institutions or reformatories. All such facilities usually confine people serving sentences for felonies. A jail is normally used to confine people serving sentences for misdemeanors, people awaiting trial or sentencing on either felony or misdemeanor charges, and people confined for civil matters such as failure to pay alimony and other types of contempt of court. The guidelines for capitalization: PRISONS: Many states have given elaborate formal names to their prisons. They should be capitalized when used, but commonly accepted substitutes should also be capitalized as if they were proper names. For example, use either Massachusetts Correctional Institution-Walpole or Walpole State Prison for the maximum security institution in Massachusetts. Do not, however, construct a substitute when the formal name is commonly accepted: It is the Colorado State Penitentiary, for example, not Colorado State Prison. On second reference, any of the following may be used, all in lowercase: the state prison, the prison, the state penitentiary, the penitentiary. Use lowercase for all plural constructions: the Colorado and Kansas state penitentiaries. JAILS: Capitalize jail when linked with the name of the jurisdiction: Los Angeles County Jail. Lowercase county jail, city jail and jail when they stand alone. FEDERAL INSTITUTIONS: Maximum security institutions are known as penitentiaries: the U.S. Penitentiary at Lewisburg or Lewisburg Penitentiary on first reference; the federal penitentiary or the penitentiary on second reference. Medium security institutions include the word federal as part of their formal names: the Federal Correctional Institution at Danbury, Connecticut. On second reference: the correctional institution, the federal prison, the prison. Most federal facilities used to house people awaiting trial or serving sentences of a year or less have the proper name Federal Detention Center. The term Metropolitan Correctional Center is being adopted for some new installations. On second reference: the detention center, the correctional center.

judge

Capitalize before a name when it is the formal title for an individual who presides in a court of law. Do not continue to use the title in second reference. Do not use court as part of the title unless confusion would result without it: —No court in the title: U.S. District Judge Jalen Garner, District Judge Jalen Garner, federal Judge Jalen Garner, Judge Jalen Garner, U.S. Circuit Judge Priscilla Owen, appellate Judge Priscilla Owen —Court needed in the title: Juvenile Court Judge Gabriela Cabrera, Criminal Court Judge John Jones, Superior Court Judge Robert Harrison, state Supreme Court Judge Keri Liu. When the formal title chief judge is relevant, put the court name after the judge's name: Chief Judge Royce Lamberth of the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.; Chief Judge Karen Williams of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Do not pile up long court names before the name of a judge. Make it Judge John Smith of Allegheny County Common Pleas Court. Not: Allegheny County Common Pleas Court Judge John Smith.Lowercase judge as an occupational designation in phrases such as contest judge Simon Cowell.

judicial branch

Always lowercase.

jury

The word takes singular verbs and pronouns: The jury has been sequestered until it reaches a verdict.Include racial and gender breakdown only if relevant.Do not capitalize: a U.S. District Court jury, a federal jury, a Massachusetts Superior Court jury, a Los Angeles County grand jury.

justice

Capitalize before a name when it is the formal title. It is the formal title for members of the U.S. Supreme Court and for jurists on some state courts. In such cases, do not use judge in first or subsequent references.

justice of the peace

Capitalize as a formal title before a name. Do not abbreviate.

juvenile delinquent

Juveniles may be declared delinquents in many states for anti-social behavior or for breaking the law. In some states, laws prohibit publishing or broadcasting the names of juvenile delinquents.Follow the local law unless there is a compelling reason to the contrary. Consult with regional editors if you believe such an exception is warranted.

lawyer

Do not use lawyer as a formal title.

magistrate

Capitalize when used as a formal title before a name. Use magistrate judge when referring to the fixed-term judge who presides in U.S. District Court and handles cases referred by U.S. district judges.

nolo contendere

The literal meaning is, "I do not wish to contend." Terms such as no contest or no-contest plea are acceptable in all references.When a defendant in a criminal case enters this plea, it means that he is not admitting guilt but is stating that he will offer no defense. The person is then subject to being judged guilty and punished as if he had pleaded guilty or had been convicted. The principal difference is that the defendant retains the option of denying the same charge in another legal proceeding.

pardon, parole, probation

The terms often are confused, but each has a specific meaning. Do not use them interchangeably. A pardon forgives and releases a person from further punishment. It is granted by a chief of state or a governor. By itself, it does not expunge a record of conviction, if one exists, and it does not by itself restore civil rights.A general pardon, usually for political offenses, is called amnesty. Parole is the release of a prisoner before the sentence has expired, on condition of good behavior. It is granted by a parole board, part of the executive branch of government, and can be revoked only by the board. Probation is the suspension of sentence for a person convicted, but not yet imprisoned, on condition of good behavior. It is imposed and revoked only by a judge.

*Columbia Police Department

Its official title. Columbia police and the Police Department are acceptable on first reference if the context makes the jurisdiction clear. Generally, use the police or Columbia police rather than a vague reference to the department. Follow these forms: Columbia Police Officer Casey Smith, Officer Casey Smith, Police Officer Casey Smith.

*Boone County prosecuting attorney

Capitalize if used before a name. Anyone in the prosecuting attorney’s office could be referred to as a prosecutor, but there is only one prosecuting attorney. Others are usually called assistant prosecutors.

*Boone County Sheriff's Department

Note the apostrophe. On second reference, use the Sheriff’s Department or the department. The law enforcement personnel are called deputies, not officers.

U.S. Court of Appeals

The court is divided into 13 circuits as follows:... On first reference to the full name, use U.S. Court of Appeals or a full name: 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals or the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit.

U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals without a circuit number is a misnomer and should not be used.

In shortened and subsequent references: the Court of Appeals, the 2nd Circuit, the appeals court, the appellate court(s), the circuit court(s), the court.

Do not create nonexistent entities such as the San Francisco Court of Appeals. Make it the U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco.

JURISTS: The formal title for the jurists on the court is judge: U.S. Circuit Judge Homer Thornberry is preferred to U.S. Appeals Judge Homer Thornberry, but either is acceptable.

*Missouri Bar, The

A statewide lawyers organization. Note the capital T on The. On second reference, use the bar.

*Citizens Police Review Board

Note the s and lack of apostrophe. The Columbia City Council established the board in July 2009. Police officers and citizens can appeal final decisions of the police chief to the board in cases of alleged police misconduct.

*Missouri Case.net

Do not use — confusing to readers since it looks like a website address but isn’t one. The case management system, maintained by the Missouri Office of State Courts Administrator and available at www.courts.mo.gov/casenet, is useful to reporters as an electronic source of records from state and local courts. When attributing information obtained through the service, use court records.

*MU Police Department

• This is the official title. MU police and campus police are often acceptable on first reference. Do not use MUPD in body copy. It is acceptable in headlines when space is tight.
• The forms are: MU Police Chief Casey Smith; MU Police Sgt. Casey Smith. Police is always uppercase before a person’s name or in a proper name.

*Taser

The acronym for Thomas A. Swift’s Electric Rifle, an electronic control device or stun gun. The preferred usage is to say Police shocked (or stunned) the suspect with a Taser. If it all possible, avoid using Taser as a verb or a gerund, the noun form of a verb that ends in –ing.