Acquittal vs. Discharge — What's the Difference?

The legal judgment that a criminal defendant has not been proven guilty of the charge beyond a reasonable doubt.

The act of formally concluding a legal matter or administrative responsibility.

The act of clearing a person from a charge following a verdict.

To relieve someone from their duties through an official decision.

Legal relief from criminal prosecution without a guilty verdict.

The release from custody or legal obligation, without necessarily determining guilt.

Judicial determination that results in the defendant being released from the charge.

Completion of legal proceedings without a final conviction.

A court's declaration that the evidence is insufficient to support a conviction.

A legal termination of certain duties or responsibilities, such as in bankruptcy.

In common law jurisdictions, an acquittal certifies that the accused is free from the charge of an offense, as far as the criminal law is concerned. The finality of an acquittal is dependent on the jurisdiction.

To release, as from confinement, care, or duty

Judgment, as by a jury or judge, that a defendant is not guilty of a crime as charged.

To let go; empty out

The state of being found or proved not guilty.

To pour forth; emit

The act of fulfilling the duties (of a given role, obligation etc.).

To shoot

(legal) A legal decision that someone is not guilty with which they have been charged, or the formal dismissal of a charge by some other legal process.

To remove from office or employment.

Payment of a debt or other obligation; reparations, amends.

To perform the obligations or demands of (an office, duty, or task).

(historical) The act of releasing someone from debt or other obligation; acquittance.

To comply with the terms of (a debt or promise, for example).

(rare) Avoidance of danger; deliverance.

(Law) To release from debt, as in bankruptcy.

The act of acquitting; discharge from debt or obligation; acquittance.

To remove (color) from cloth, as by chemical bleaching.

A setting free, or deliverance from the charge of an offense, by verdict of a jury or sentence of a court.

(Electricity) To cause the release of stored energy or electric charge from (a battery, for example).

A judgment of not guilty

To apportion (weight) evenly, as over a door.

To relieve (a part) of excess weight by distribution of pressure.

To clear the record of the loan of (a returned library book).

To relieve (a ship, for example) of a burden or of contents; unload.

To unload or empty (contents).

To go off; fire

To pour forth, emit, or release contents.

To become blurred, as a color or dye; run.

To undergo the release of stored energy or electric charge.

To get rid of a burden, load, or weight.

The act of shooting or firing a projectile or weapon.

A flowing out or pouring forth; emission; secretion

The amount or rate of emission or ejection.

Something that is discharged, released, emitted, or excreted

The act or an instance of removing an obligation, burden, or responsibility.

Fulfillment of the terms of something, such as a debt or promise.

Performance, as of an office or duty.

Dismissal or release from employment, service, care, or confinement.

An official document certifying such release, especially from military service.

Release of stored energy in a capacitor by the flow of current between its terminals.

Conversion of chemical energy to electric energy in a storage battery.

A flow of electricity in a dielectric, especially in a rarefied gas.

Elimination of net electric charge from a charged body.

The act of removing a load or burden.

To accomplish or complete, as an obligation.

To free of a debt, claim, obligation, responsibility, accusation, etc.; to absolve; to acquit; to forgive; to clear.

To send away (a creditor) satisfied by payment; to pay one's debt or obligation to.

To set aside; to annul; to dismiss.

To expel or let go.

To let fly, as a missile; to shoot.

(electricity) To release (an accumulated charge).

To relieve of an office or employment; to send away from service; to dismiss.

(medicine) To release (an inpatient) from hospital.

(military) To release (a member of the armed forces) from service.

To release legally from confinement; to set at liberty.

To operate (any weapon that fires a projectile, such as a shotgun or sling).

(logic) To release (an auxiliary assumption) from the list of assumptions used in arguments, and return to the main argument.

To unload a ship or another means of transport.

To put forth, or remove, as a charge or burden; to take out, as that with which anything is loaded or filled.

To give forth; to emit or send out.

To let fly; to give expression to; to utter.

To bleach out or to remove or efface, as by a chemical process.

To prohibit; to forbid.

The act of accomplishing (an obligation) or repaying a debt etc.; performance.

The act of expelling or letting go.

The act of firing a projectile, especially from a firearm.

The process of unloading something.

The process of flowing out.

(electricity) The act of releasing an accumulated charge.

(medicine) The act of releasing an inpatient from hospital.

(military) The act of releasing a member of the armed forces from service.

(hydrology) The volume of water transported by a river in a certain amount of time, usually in units of m³/s (cubic meters per second).

To relieve of a charge, load, or burden; to empty of a load or cargo; to unburden; to unload; as, to discharge a vessel.

To free of the missile with which anything is charged or loaded; to let go the charge of; as, to discharge a bow, catapult, etc.; especially, said of firearms, - to fire off; to shoot off; also, to relieve from a state of tension, as a Leyden jar.

To of something weighing upon or impeding over one, as a debt, claim, obligation, responsibility, accusation, etc.; to absolve; to acquit; to clear.

To relieve of an office or employment; to send away from service; to dismiss.

To release legally from confinement; to set at liberty; as, to discharge a prisoner.

To put forth, or remove, as a charge or burden; to take out, as that with which anything is loaded or filled; as, to discharge a cargo.

To let fly, as a missile; to shoot.

To set aside; to annul; to dismiss.

To throw off the obligation of, as a duty or debt; to relieve one's self of, by fulfilling conditions, performing duty, trust, and the like; hence, to perform or execute, as an office, or part.

To send away (a creditor) satisfied by payment; to pay one's debt or obligation to.

To give forth; to emit or send out; as, a pipe discharges water; to let fly; to give expression to; to utter; as, to discharge a horrible oath.

To prohibit; to forbid.

To bleach out or to remove or efface, as by a chemical process; as, to discharge the color from a dyed fabric in order to form light figures on a dark ground.

To throw off or deliver a load, charge, or burden; to unload; to emit or give vent to fluid or other contents; as, the water pipe discharges freely.

The act of discharging; the act of relieving of a charge or load; removal of a load or burden; unloading; as, the discharge of a ship; discharge of a cargo.

Firing off; explosive removal of a charge; explosion; letting off; as, a discharge of arrows, of artillery.

Act of relieving of something which oppresses or weighs upon one, as an obligation, liability, debt, accusation, etc.; acquittance; as, the discharge of a debtor.

Act of removing, or getting rid of, an obligation, liability, etc.; fulfillment, as by the payment of a debt, or the performance of a trust or duty.

Release or dismissal from an office, employment, etc.; dismission; as, the discharge of a workman by his employer.

Legal release from confinement; liberation; as, the discharge of a prisoner.

The state of being discharged or relieved of a debt, obligation, office, and the like; acquittal.

A flowing or issuing out; emission; vent; evacuation; also, that which is discharged or emitted; as, a rapid discharge of water from the pipe.

The equalization of a difference of electric potential between two points. The character of the discharge is mostly determined by the nature of the medium through which it takes place, the amount of the difference of potential, and the form of the terminal conductors on which the difference exists. The discharge may be alternating, continuous, brush, connective, disruptive, glow, oscillatory, stratified, etc.

The sudden giving off of energy

The act of venting

A substance that is emitted or released

Any of several bodily processes by which substances go out of the body;

Electrical conduction through a gas in an applied electric field

The pouring forth of a fluid

The termination of someone's employment (leaving them free to depart)

A formal written statement of relinquishment

The act of discharging a gun

Complete or carry out;

Pour forth or release;

Eliminate (substances) from the body

Free from obligations or duties

Remove the charge from

Go off or discharge;

Pronounce not guilty of criminal charges;

Leave or unload, especially of passengers or cargo;

Cause to go off;

Release from military service

Become empty or void of its content;

An acquittal is a court’s judgment that a defendant is not guilty of the charges brought against them.

An acquittal is noted in the legal record but does not equate to a conviction and cannot be used as evidence of guilt.

Reasons for discharge include completion of legal obligations, procedural grounds in court cases, or administrative decisions.

No, a person cannot be retried for the same offense after an acquittal, as per the principle of double jeopardy.

A discharge is the release of a person from legal obligations, which can occur in various legal fields.

Generally, an acquittal cannot be appealed by the prosecution due to the double jeopardy clause.

This depends on the type of discharge; for example, a discharge in bankruptcy can affect the debtor's ability to file for bankruptcy again for a certain period.

While often related to legal proceedings, discharges can also occur in non-judicial administrative or organizational contexts.

In bankruptcy, discharge releases the debtor from personal liability for certain debts. In criminal cases, it may involve release from custody or legal obligations without a conviction.

An acquittal maintains the individual’s status as not legally responsible for the criminal charges once alleged against them.