Antecedents are the life history and previous
conviction
In law, a conviction is the verdict reached by a court of law finding a defendant guilty of a crime. The opposite of a conviction is an acquittal (that is, "not guilty"). In Scotland, there can also be a verdict of " not proven", which is cons ...
s of a
defendant in a
criminal case. They are colloquially known as "previous convictions" (or simply "previous") in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
and "prior convictions" (or simply "priors") in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
and
Australia.
When a defendant is being
sentenced for a
crime
In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Ca ...
, the court will be told antecedents. This information is usually considered by the judge/magistrate in deciding the sentence the defendant will receive. If a defendant pleads "
not guilty", previous convictions are not usually made known to the jury during the trial, to prevent prejudice against the defendant, but it is argued if the defendant has previous convictions for similar types of offense, this should be part of the evidence given at the trial.
Criminal law
Legal terminology
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