Free Printable Criminal Justice Word Search Puzzles

Criminal justice puzzles of court, trial and corrections terms that print with an answer key.

Name Date

Criminal Justice Word Search

Find every word hidden in the grid. Words go across and down.

0 of 15 words found

DCNCOPROSECUTOR

KXTPXRBWARRANTA

SIQJUOOMIWLFWAR

ARUUABTDRIGHTSR

IEARWAAQSBEIYTE

NRFYNTUOPFWYOAS

UTESTIMONYLTDTT

VOLJVOHLGCREDUR

SNONPNBVERDICTI

EWNYCCWJUSTICEA

RLYLBANRTRCBTEL

VIWGRJHWEBTAXWM

TOISNROAUSDIESI

BHMSETAPPEALIFO

ASNWTYPAROLENHT

This grid is wider and taller than its box. Slide it to see every letter.To drag, hold the first letter for a moment, then slide.Keyboard: Tab to the grid, arrow keys to move, Enter on the first and last letter.

JuryJURY
ProsecutorPROSECUTOR
ArrestARREST
BailBAIL
WarrantWARRANT
TrialTRIAL
TestimonyTESTIMONY
VerdictVERDICT
AppealAPPEAL
ProbationPROBATION
ParolePAROLE
StatuteSTATUTE
FelonyFELONY
RightsRIGHTS
JusticeJUSTICE

15 of 24 words from the Criminal Justice list.

Pick three terms from the list and explain how they connect in one case.

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Answer key: Criminal Justice Word Search

DCNCOPROSECUTOR

KXTPXRBWARRANTA

SIQJUOOMIWLFWAR

ARUUABTDRIGHTSR

IEARWAAQSBEIYTE

NRFYNTUOPFWYOAS

UTESTIMONYLTDTT

VOLJVOHLGCREDUR

SNONPNBVERDICTI

EWNYCCWJUSTICEA

RLYLBANRTRCBTEL

VIWGRJHWEBTAXWM

TOISNROAUSDIESI

BHMSETAPPEALIFO

ASNWTYPAROLENHT

JURY, PROSECUTOR, ARREST, BAIL, WARRANT, TRIAL, TESTIMONY, VERDICT, APPEAL, PROBATION, PAROLE, STATUTE, FELONY, RIGHTS, JUSTICE

Next step Make a word search from the key terms of your own unit Make a criminal justice word scramble

All 133 words

People of the Court 19

Accused The person charged in a case.
Advocate Someone who speaks up for another person's interests.
Attorney A person trained and licensed to represent others in legal matters.
Clerk The official who keeps a court's files and schedules.
Counsel A lawyer, or the legal advice a lawyer gives.
Court reporter The person who types every word said during a hearing.
Defendant The person who has been charged and must answer in court.
Defense The side that answers the charges on behalf of the person on trial.
Foreperson The juror who speaks for the group and announces its decision.
Interpreter A person who translates aloud for someone who speaks another language.
Judge The official who runs a courtroom and rules on questions of law.
Juror One member of the panel that decides a case.
Jury Citizens sworn in to weigh the facts and decide a case.
Magistrate A judicial officer who handles early hearings and smaller matters.
Paralegal A trained assistant who helps lawyers prepare cases.
Prosecutor The government's lawyer, who brings the case against the accused.
Public defender A lawyer paid by the government to represent a person who cannot afford one.
Victim The person who was harmed.
Witness A person who testifies under oath about what they saw or know.

Show all 133 words (114 more)

Before the Trial 22

Affidavit A written statement sworn to be true.
Arraignment The first court appearance, where the charges are read and a plea is entered.
Arrest Taking a person into custody by legal authority.
Bail Money or a promise given so that a person can stay free until the court date.
Bond A written pledge to pay if the person does not come back to court.
Booking Recording a person's name, photo and prints after they are taken in.
Charge A formal statement that a person broke a specific law.
Complaint The first paper filed, stating what a person is said to have done.
Continuance A postponement of a court date.
Custody Being held under guard by the authorities.
Detain To hold a person for a short time for questioning.
Discovery The stage in which the two sides share what they have gathered.
Docket A court's calendar of the cases it will hear.
Hearing A session before a judge that is shorter and less formal than a trial.
Indictment A formal written accusation issued by a grand jury.
Motion A formal request asking the judge to make a decision.
Plea The formal answer a person gives to a charge.
Probable cause A reasonable basis, grounded in facts, for an arrest or a search.
Release To let a person go free.
Subpoena A court paper that orders a person to show up or to turn over files.
Summons An official notice ordering a person to appear in court.
Warrant A judge's written order allowing an arrest or a search.

At Trial 26

Acquittal A finding that the person on trial is not guilty.
Alibi A claim of having been somewhere else at the time.
Bench The raised desk where the judge sits.
Burden The duty of one side to establish its claims.
Courtroom The room where a judge hears cases.
Deliberate To talk a case over in private before deciding.
Evidence Testimony, documents and objects offered to establish or disprove a fact.
Exhibit An object or document shown in court.
Gavel The small wooden mallet a judge raps to call for order.
Guilty Found to have done what was charged.
Hearsay A secondhand statement, repeated by someone who did not see the event.
Innocent Not responsible for the act charged, as every person on trial is presumed to be.
Oath A sworn promise that what one says will be the truth.
Objection A lawyer's formal protest against a question or a piece of evidence.
Overruled The judge's word for rejecting a protest.
Proof Evidence strong enough to establish a fact.
Ruling A judge's decision on a point of law.
Sequester To keep a jury apart from the public until it decides.
Sidebar A private talk between the judge and the lawyers, out of the jury's hearing.
Sustained The judge's word for agreeing with a protest.
Testimony What a witness says under oath.
Transcript The official written copy of every word said in court.
Trial The court proceeding in which evidence is heard and guilt is decided.
Unanimous Agreed to by every single member.
Verdict The jury's formal decision at the end.
Voir dire The questioning of possible jurors before they are chosen.

Sentencing and Corrections 26

Appeal A request that a higher court review a decision.
Clemency Mercy shown by an official with the power to reduce a punishment.
Concurrent Served at the same time, as two sentences may be.
Consecutive Served one after the other.
Conviction A formal finding that a person is guilty.
Corrections The part of the system that runs jails, prisons and supervision.
Detention Being kept in custody, especially while awaiting a court date.
Diversion A pretrial program that lets a person avoid a conviction by completing set steps.
Expunge To erase or strike an entry from a person's court history.
Fine Money a court orders a person to pay as a penalty.
Halfway house A supervised home that helps people adjust after release.
Incarcerate To confine in a jail or prison.
Inmate A person held in a jail or prison.
Jail A local lockup for short stays and for people awaiting trial.
Juvenile A young person, not yet an adult under the law.
Pardon An official act that forgives an offense and cancels its penalty.
Parole Early, supervised release from prison on a promise of good conduct.
Prison A state or federal institution for people serving longer terms.
Probation Supervised freedom in the community in place of time behind bars.
Record The official history of a person's arrests and convictions.
Reentry A person's return to the community after time in prison.
Rehabilitate To help a person return to a law-abiding, useful life.
Restitution Payment ordered to make up for a victim's loss.
Sentence The penalty a judge sets once guilt is found.
Suspended Ordered but not carried out, so long as conditions are met.
Warden The official in charge of a prison.

Law and Rights 23

Amendment A formal change or addition to a constitution.
Civil Describes cases between private parties, not prosecutions by the state.
Code A full, organized set of written laws.
Common law Rules built up from court decisions over time, not written by a legislature.
Criminal Describes cases the government brings for breaking the law.
Double jeopardy A second prosecution for the same offense, barred by the Fifth Amendment.
Due process The fair legal steps owed to a person before the state may take life, liberty or property.
Felony The more serious of the two main classes of offense.
Habeas corpus A court order to bring a held person before a judge to test whether the holding is lawful.
Infraction A minor breach of a rule, usually punished only by a fine.
Jurisdiction The legal power of a court over a kind of case, or the territory that power covers.
Justice Fair treatment under the law.
Liberty Freedom from unjust control.
Misdemeanor The less serious of the two main classes of offense.
Offense An act that breaks a law.
Ordinance A law made by a city or county.
Precedent An earlier court decision that guides later ones.
Presumption Something taken as true until shown otherwise.
Privacy The right to be left alone, free from unwanted watching.
Rights Freedoms and protections that the law guarantees to every person.
Search An official look through a person's home, car or belongings.
Seizure The taking of property by legal authority.
Statute A law enacted by a legislature and written into its books.

Investigation and Evidence 17

Database A large, organized store of files on a computer.
Detective An officer who gathers facts about a case.
Examiner An expert who inspects evidence and gives findings.
Fingerprint The ridge pattern of a fingertip, used to tell who a person is.
Forensics The use of science to examine evidence for court.
Informant A person who passes what they know to officers.
Inquiry An official effort to find out the facts.
Interrogate To question a person formally and at length.
Investigate To look into the facts of a matter carefully.
Laboratory A room equipped for scientific testing.
Motive The reason a person had for acting.
Photograph A camera image that shows how a place looked.
Polygraph A machine that records breathing, pulse and blood pressure during questioning.
Specimen A sample taken for testing.
Surveillance Close watch kept on a person or place.
Suspect A person believed to have possibly committed an offense.
Timeline Events set out in the order in which they took place.

How this list was compiled: Own work: the word list and every clue were written for this page. Spellings and meanings were checked on 11 October 2026 in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (https://www.ahdictionary.com/) and in Wiktionary (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/verdict and the entries for the other words). Facts were checked the same day against these English Wikipedia articles: Criminal justice (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criminal_justice), Prison, Double jeopardy, Habeas corpus, Indictment, Voir dire, Diversion program, Polygraph, Felony, Misdemeanor, Probation, Parole and Bail. Licence: own work

How it works

Judge, Jury, Verdict, Evidence, Attorney, Bail and Trial are on the list these free printable criminal justice word search puzzles open on. Six more lists follow a case through law enforcement, the courts and corrections, each term with a clue.

Read the full guide

Six lists, in the order of a case

People of the Court has Prosecutor, Defendant and Magistrate. Before the Trial has Arraignment, Indictment and Subpoena. At Trial has Testimony, Objection and Voir dire. Sentencing and Corrections has Probation, Parole and Restitution. Law and Rights has Statute, Due process and Habeas corpus, and Investigation and Evidence has Forensics, Polygraph and Motive.

Latin and French in the courtroom

Verdict joins the Old French words for true and saying. Subpoena is Latin for under penalty, Alibi is Latin for elsewhere, and Parole is the French for word or formal promise. Jury goes back to the Latin verb to swear.

Pairs to teach side by side: Probation and Parole, Jail and Prison, Concurrent and Consecutive, Sustained and Overruled.

Questions and answers

Are the criminal justice word search puzzles free to print?

Yes. Print or save as PDF gives the puzzle and its answer key on Letter or A4. New puzzle draws another grid from the same list, so one page makes as many puzzles as a class needs.

What terms are in the puzzles?

133 terms, from Bail and Plea to Arraignment and Probable cause. Felony, Misdemeanor and Infraction are there as classes of offense; no crime is named, so the sheets suit a high school course.

Which list covers sentencing and corrections?

Sentencing and Corrections, with 26 entries, among them Sentence, Appeal, Probation, Parole, Restitution, Clemency, Expunge and Reentry.

Are the clues legal definitions?

No. Each clue is a study aid in plain words, checked in a dictionary, and it is not legal advice. For a civics unit, the government word search has the three branches.

All 133 words

People of the Court 19

Before the Trial 22

At Trial 26

Sentencing and Corrections 26

Law and Rights 23

Investigation and Evidence 17

How it works

Six lists, in the order of a case

Latin and French in the courtroom

Questions and answers

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