Antecedent (law)
Encyclopedia
Antecedents are the life history and previous convictions of a defendant
Defendant
A defendant or defender is any party who is required to answer the complaint of a plaintiff or pursuer in a civil lawsuit before a court, or any party who has been formally charged or accused of violating a criminal statute...

 in a criminal case. They are colloquially known as "previous convictions" (or simply "previous") in the U.K.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 and "prior convictions" (or simply "priors") in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

.

When a defendant is being sentenced
Sentence (law)
In law, a sentence forms the final explicit act of a judge-ruled process, and also the symbolic principal act connected to his function. The sentence can generally involve a decree of imprisonment, a fine and/or other punishments against a defendant convicted of a crime...

 for a crime
Crime
Crime is the breach of rules or laws for which some governing authority can ultimately prescribe a conviction...

, the court will be told his or her antecedents. This information is usually considered by the judge/magistrate in deciding the sentence the defendant will receive. If a defendant pleads not guilty, his or her previous convictions are not usually made known to the jury during the trial. This is to prevent prejudice against the defendant, although it is argued if the defendant has previous convictions for similar types of offence, this should be part of the evidence given at the trial.
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