double jeopardy

double jeopardy, in law, protection against the use by the state of certain multiple forms of prosecution.

In general, in countries observing the rule of double jeopardy, a person cannot be tried twice for the same crime based on the same conduct. If a person robs a bank, that individual cannot twice be tried for robbery for the same offense. Nor can one be tried for two different crimes based upon the same conduct unless the two crimes are defined so as to prohibit conduct of significantly different kinds. Thus, one cannot be tried for both murder and manslaughter for the same killing but can be tried for both murder and robbery if the murder arose out of the robbery. The defense of double jeopardy also prevents the state from retrying a person for the same crime after he has been acquitted. Nor can the state voluntarily dismiss a case after trial has begun in order to start over. In U.S. law, jeopardy does not attach until the jury is sworn in a jury trial or until the first witness is sworn in a bench trial. Actions before jeopardy attaches will not bar a subsequent prosecution. For example, if a judge dismisses a prosecution at a preliminary hearing for lack of evidence, this determination does not bar the government from initiating new charges for the same offense, since jeopardy will not have attached at that point. Also under U.S. law, conviction or acquittal in one state or nation does not always bar trial for the same criminal act in another.