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The Public Records Act (PRA) is a law of the U.S. state of Washington requiring public access to all records and materials from state and local agencies. [1] It was originally passed as a ballot initiative by voters in 1972 and revised several times by the state legislature .
Serious violations tend to involve multiple prior offenses, willful disregard of public safety, death or serious bodily injury, or damage to property. [7] A frequently used penalty is a fine , and this is ordinarily a fixed amount of money, instead of being an amount of money determined based on the facts of each individual case.
The Melbourne Magistrates' Court.In Victoria, Australia, all summary offences are heard in the Magistrates' Court. A summary offence or petty offence is a violation in some common law jurisdictions that can be proceeded against summarily, [1] [2] [3] without the right to a jury trial and/or indictment (required for an indictable offence).
Pursuant to common law tradition, the courts of Washington have developed a large body of case law through the decisions of the Washington Supreme Court and Washington Court of Appeals. The decisions of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals are published in the Washington Reports and Washington Appellate Reports , respectively. [ 8 ]
In an effort to prevent such abuses, Congress passed a law in 1831 limiting the application of the summary contempt procedures to offenses committed in or near the court. A new section, which survives today as the Omnibus Clause, was added to punish contempts committed outside of the court, but only after indictment and trial by jury. [19] [20]
In criminal law, a lesser included offense is a crime for which all of the elements necessary to impose liability are also elements found in a more serious crime. It is also used in non-criminal violations of law, such as certain classes of traffic offenses.
Critics note that Washington state government is liability-averse and by not tracking releases, the state has distanced itself from the financial responsibility and potential impacts to public safety.
A misdemeanor (American English, [1] spelled misdemeanour elsewhere) is any "lesser" criminal act in some common law legal systems. Misdemeanors are generally punished less severely than more serious felonies, but theoretically more so than administrative infractions (also known as minor, petty, or summary offences) and regulatory offences.