Terms Used In Kansas Statutes > Chapter 74 > Article 73 - Crime Victims Compensation Board

• Acquittal:
  1. Judgement that a criminal defendant has not been proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
  2. A verdict of "not guilty."
   
• Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Appellate: About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgement of another lower court or tribunal.
• Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Board: means the crime victims compensation board established under Kan. See Kansas Statutes 74-7301
• Claimant: means any of the following persons claiming compensation under this act:

  (1) A victim;

  (2) a dependent of a deceased victim;

  (3) a third person other than a collateral source; or

  (4) an authorized person acting on behalf of any of them. See Kansas Statutes 74-7301

• Collateral source: means the net financial benefit, after deduction of taxes, legal fees, costs, expenses of litigation, liens, offsets, credits or other deductions, from a source of benefits or advantages for economic loss otherwise reparable under this act which the victim or claimant has received, or which is readily available to the victim or claimant, from:

  (1) The offender;

  (2) the government of the United States or any agency thereof, a state or any of its political subdivisions or an instrumentality or two or more states, unless the law providing for the benefits or advantages makes them excess or secondary to benefits under this act;

  (3) social security, medicare and medicaid;

  (4) state-required temporary nonoccupational disability insurance;

  (5) workers' compensation;

  (6) wage continuation programs of any employer;

  (7) proceeds of a contract of insurance payable to the victim for loss which the victim sustained because of the criminally injurious conduct;

  (8) a contract providing prepaid hospital and other health care services or benefits for disability; or

  (9) damages awarded in a tort action. See Kansas Statutes 74-7301

• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Crime scene cleanup: means removal of blood, stains, odors or other debris caused by the crime or the processing of the crime scene and may include replacement of materials that were removed because such materials were biohazardous or were damaged as part of evidence collection. See Kansas Statutes 74-7301
• Criminally injurious conduct: means conduct that: (1) (A) Occurs or is attempted in this state or occurs to a person whose domicile is in Kansas who is the victim of a violent crime which occurs in another state, possession, or territory of the United States of America may make an application for compensation if:

  (i) The crimes would be compensable had it occurred in the state of Kansas; and

  (ii) the places the crimes occurred are states, possessions or territories of the United States of America not having eligible crime victim compensation programs;

  (B) poses a substantial threat or personal injury or death; and

  (C) either is punishable by fine, imprisonment or death or would be so punishable but for the fact that the person engaging in the conduct lacked capacity to commit the crime under the laws of this state; or

  (2) is an act of terrorism, as defined in 18 U. See Kansas Statutes 74-7301

• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• Dependent: means a natural person wholly or partially dependent upon the victim for care or support, and includes a child of the victim born after the victim's death. See Kansas Statutes 74-7301
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
• Economic loss: means economic detriment consisting only of allowable expense, work loss, replacement services loss and, if injury causes death, dependent's economic loss and dependent's replacement service loss. See Kansas Statutes 74-7301
• Escrow: Money given to a third party to be held for payment until certain conditions are met.
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Garnishment: Generally, garnishment is a court proceeding in which a creditor asks a court to order a third party who owes money to the debtor or otherwise holds assets belonging to the debtor to turn over to the creditor any of the debtor
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Month: means a calendar month, unless otherwise expressed. See Kansas Statutes 77-201
• Noneconomic detriment: means pain, suffering, inconvenience, physical impairment and nonpecuniary damage. See Kansas Statutes 74-7301
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Preliminary hearing: A hearing where the judge decides whether there is enough evidence to make the defendant have a trial.
• Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
• Property: includes personal and real property. See Kansas Statutes 77-201
• Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
• Replacement services loss: means expenses reasonably incurred in obtaining ordinary and necessary services in lieu of those the injured person would have performed, not for income, but for the benefit of self or family, if such person had not been injured. See Kansas Statutes 74-7301
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
• State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Kansas Statutes 77-201
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Statute of limitations: A law that sets the time within which parties must take action to enforce their rights.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Tort: A civil wrong or breach of a duty to another person, as outlined by law. A very common tort is negligent operation of a motor vehicle that results in property damage and personal injury in an automobile accident.
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Verdict: The decision of a petit jury or a judge.
• Victim: means a person who suffers personal injury or death as a result of:

  (1) Criminally injurious conduct;

  (2) the good faith effort of any person to prevent criminally injurious conduct;

  (3) the good faith effort of any person to apprehend a person suspected of engaging in criminally injurious conduct; or

  (4) witnessing a violent crime when the person was 16 years of age or younger at the time the crime was committed. See Kansas Statutes 74-7301

• Work loss: means loss of income from work the injured person would have performed if such person had not been injured, and expenses reasonably incurred by such person in obtaining services in lieu of those the person would have performed for income, reduced by any income from substitute work actually performed by such person or by income such person would have earned in available appropriate substitute work that the person was capable of performing but unreasonably failed to undertake. See Kansas Statutes 74-7301