ATLAS/BRIEFINGLaw, organized for consequential decisions.

CRIM · PRACTICE DESK

Consumer & Criminal Procedure

Identity-theft recovery mechanics and the negotiated end of a criminal case, including the consequences that outlast the sentence itself.

Foundational briefing

Start here

CRIM-01 · 01

Identity Theft Recovery: Reports, Credit Freezes, Disputes, and Documentation

9 MIN · CRIM

Identity theft recovery is a sequence, not a checklist. Each step produces the document or the report that unlocks the legal right used in the step after it.

  • The FTC identity theft report generated at identitytheft.gov is the key document; several federal rights are unavailable without it.
  • Credit bureaus must block information resulting from identity theft within four business days of a complete request under FCRA Section 605B.
  • Security freezes have been free nationwide for every consumer since the 2018 federal law, including freezes for children and protected consumers.
Read the full brief →
Current dossiers

Multi-brief clusters

CONTINUITY & CONSEQUENCE

What survives a person

What survives a person: business succession, fiduciary administration, and the long tail of consequences after a criminal or identity-theft event.

Open dossier →

Brief stack

All Consumer & Criminal Procedure briefs

Search this desk →
Criminal consequencesIdentity recoveryCriminal process

CRIM-02 · 02

Plea Agreements and Collateral Consequences Beyond the Criminal Sentence

9 MIN · CRIM

A sentence ends. The consequences attached to a conviction often do not. This brief maps what a plea agreement gives up and how to inventory the aftermath before signing.

  • Federal pleas come in three shapes; only one binds the judge to a specific sentence, and only that one lets the defendant withdraw if the judge refuses.
  • The plea colloquy establishes that the plea is knowing and voluntary, which is precisely what makes it hard to undo afterwards.
  • Courts must warn non-citizens that a conviction may cause removal, and counsel has a constitutional duty to advise on immigration effects.
Read the full brief →

CRIM-03 · 03

The Grand Jury: Subpoenas, Witness Status, and What Secrecy Actually Covers

7 MIN · CRIM

A grand jury subpoena is the first visible step in an investigation that has usually been running for months. This brief explains what it compels, what it does not, and the sequence that follows.

  • Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 6 governs the grand jury, and its secrecy obligation binds prosecutors, jurors, and court staff — not witnesses.
  • Recipients should establish immediately whether they are a witness, a subject, or a target, because the three call for different responses.
  • A company has no privilege against self-incrimination, and its records custodian generally cannot refuse to produce on personal Fifth Amendment grounds.
Read the full brief →

CRIM-04 · 04

Miranda and Custodial Interrogation: Custody, Interrogation, Waiver, and Invocation

8 MIN · CRIM

Miranda applies only where custody and interrogation overlap. This brief separates the two elements, explains what a valid waiver looks like, and identifies what a violation does and does not achieve.

  • Warnings are required only when a person is both in custody and subject to interrogation; either element alone does not trigger the rule.
  • Custody is an objective test asking whether a reasonable person would feel free to end the encounter and leave, not what the officer intended.
  • The Supreme Court held in Berghuis v. Thompkins (2010) that silence is not an invocation and that a suspect must speak up unambiguously.
Read the full brief →

CRIM-05 · 05

Federal Sentencing: The Guidelines Calculation, Departures, and Variances

7 MIN · CRIM

Federal sentencing runs in two stages — a guideline range that must be calculated correctly, then a statutory judgment that can move well away from it. This brief separates the two.

  • Since Booker in 2005 the guidelines are advisory, but a court must still calculate the range correctly before deciding anything else.
  • After the calculation, the court applies the sentencing factors in 18 U.S.C. section 3553(a) and must explain the sentence it chooses.
  • A departure moves within the guidelines' own framework; a variance moves outside it based on the statutory factors. Appellate treatment differs.
Read the full brief →

CRIM-06 · 06

Restitution Orders: How the Amount Is Set, and How Long It Is Enforced

7 MIN · CRIM

Restitution is imposed at sentencing and collected for decades afterwards. This brief explains what counts as a compensable loss, who bears the burden, and how the government enforces the judgment.

  • The Mandatory Victims Restitution Act makes restitution mandatory for many federal offences, and the defendant's ability to pay cannot reduce the amount.
  • Compensable loss is defined by statute and must be a direct and proximate result of the offence; the government proves it by a preponderance.
  • A restitution judgment is enforced like a civil judgment and remains collectible for twenty years, measured from release where there is imprisonment.
Read the full brief →

CRIM-07 · 07

Federal Criminal Appeals: Preservation, Standards of Review, and the Fourteen-Day Clock

8 MIN · CRIM

An appeal is largely won or lost in the trial court. This brief explains what the record has to contain, which standard of review each issue attracts, and the deadlines that end the discussion.

  • Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 4(b) gives a criminal defendant fourteen days from entry of judgment to file the notice of appeal.
  • Issues raised and ruled on below get ordinary review; issues raised for the first time on appeal get plain-error review, which is far harder.
  • An appeal reviews the record made at trial. Facts, arguments, and evidence not in that record cannot be added later.
Read the full brief →

CRIM-08 · 08

Asset Forfeiture: Civil, Criminal, and How Seized Property Is Reclaimed

8 MIN · CRIM

Civil forfeiture proceeds against the property rather than a person, which is why an owner charged with nothing can still lose a car or a bank balance. This brief maps the three routes and their deadlines.

  • Civil forfeiture is an action against the property itself, so the owner's innocence is a defence to be raised rather than a reason the case cannot start.
  • The Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act puts the burden on the government, creates an innocent-owner defence, and sets deadlines both sides must meet.
  • Criminal forfeiture is part of a sentence, requires notice in the charging document, and gives third parties a separate ancillary proceeding.
Read the full brief →
Scope

Questions this desk answers

  • What restores a stolen identity, in what order?
  • What am I giving up in a plea?
  • Which consequences are not in the sentence?
  • How is the paper trail rebuilt?
Reference

Key terms & related desks

Key terms

Related desks

Recently re-verified