As used in §§ 39-13-501 – 39-13-511, except as specifically provided in § 39-13-505, unless the context otherwise requires:

(1) “Coercion” means threat of kidnapping, extortion, force or violence to be performed immediately or in the future or the use of parental, custodial, or official authority over a child less than fifteen (15) years of age;
criminal case

Have a question?
Click here to chat with a criminal defense lawyer and protect your rights.

Terms Used In Tennessee Code 39-13-501

  • Defendant: means a person accused of an offense under this title and includes any person who aids or abets the commission of such offense. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106
  • Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
  • Force: means compulsion by the use of physical power or violence and shall be broadly construed to accomplish the purposes of this title. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106
  • Intentional: means that a person acts intentionally with respect to the nature of the conduct or to a result of the conduct when it is the person's conscious objective or desire to engage in the conduct or cause the result. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106
  • Person: includes the singular and the plural and means and includes any individual, firm, partnership, copartnership, association, corporation, governmental subdivision or agency, or other organization or other legal entity, or any agent or servant thereof. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106
(2) “Intimate parts” includes semen, vaginal fluid, the primary genital area, groin, inner thigh, buttock or breast of a human being;
(3) “Mentally defective” means that a person suffers from a mental disease or defect which renders that person temporarily or permanently incapable of appraising the nature of the person’s conduct;
(4) “Mentally incapacitated” means that a person is rendered temporarily incapable of appraising or controlling the person’s conduct due to the influence of a narcotic, anesthetic or other substance administered to that person without the person’s consent, or due to any other act committed upon that person without the person’s consent;
(5) “Physically helpless” means that a person is unconscious, asleep or for any other reason physically or verbally unable to communicate unwillingness to do an act;
(6) “Sexual contact” includes the intentional touching of the victim’s, the defendant‘s, or any other person’s intimate parts, or the intentional touching of the clothing covering the immediate area of the victim’s, the defendant‘s, or any other person’s intimate parts, if that intentional touching can be reasonably construed as being for the purpose of sexual arousal or gratification;
(7) “Sexual penetration” means sexual intercourse, cunnilingus, fellatio, anal intercourse, or any other intrusion, however slight, of any part of a person’s body or of any object into the genital or anal openings of the victim’s, the defendant’s, or any other person’s body, but emission of semen is not required; and
(8) “Victim” means the person alleged to have been subjected to criminal sexual conduct and includes the spouse of the defendant.
  Previous section
Next section  
 Part 5 Contents