(a) For purposes of this section:

Attorney's Note

Under the Tennessee Code, punishments for crimes depend on the classification. In the case of this section:
ClassPrisonFine
class E felony1 to 6 yearsup to $3,000
class A misdemeanorup to 11 monthsup to $2,500
For details, see Tenn. Code § 40-35-111
criminal case

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Terms Used In Tennessee Code 39-14-408

  • Benefit: means anything reasonably regarded as economic gain, enhancement or advantage, including benefit to any other person in whose welfare the beneficiary is interested. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106
  • Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
  • Effective consent: means assent in fact, whether express or apparent, including assent by one legally authorized to act for another. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106
  • Government: means the state or any political subdivision of the state, and includes any branch or agency of the state, a county, municipality or other political subdivision. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106
  • Knowing: means that a person acts knowingly with respect to the conduct or to circumstances surrounding the conduct when the person is aware of the nature of the conduct or that the circumstances exist. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106
  • Owner: means a person in lawful possession of property whether the possession is actual or constructive. See Tennessee Code 39-14-401
  • 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
  • Property: means anything of value, including, but not limited to, money, real estate, tangible or intangible personal property, including anything severed from land, library material, contract rights, choses-in-action, interests in or claims to wealth, credit, admission or transportation tickets, captured or domestic animals, food and drink, electric or other power. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106
  • Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
  • State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • United States: includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
(1) “Damage” includes, but is not limited to:

(A) Destroying, polluting, or contaminating property;
(B) Tampering with property and causing pecuniary loss or substantial inconvenience to the owner or a third person;
(C) Intentionally spilling, pouring, or otherwise administering chemicals or other toxic substances to or on the merchandise with the intent to:

(i) Render the merchandise unusable or unsellable; or
(ii) Alter the merchandise from its original or intended form;
(D) Destroying, harming, or decreasing the value of merchandise offered for sale by a retail merchant in any other manner; or
(E) Intentionally marring, marking upon, or defacing, in a temporary or permanent manner, state or local government property or any entrance or curtilage to or fixture on the property, with the exception of temporary marking of sidewalks;
(2) “Merchandise” includes any goods, chattels, foodstuffs, or wares of any type of description, regardless of the value;
(3) “Polluting” means the contamination by man-made or man-induced alteration of the chemical, physical, biological, or radiological integrity of the atmosphere, water, or soil to the material injury of the right of another. Pollutants include dredged soil, solid waste, incinerator residue, sewage, garbage, sewage sludge, munitions, chemical wastes, biological materials, radioactive materials, heat, wrecked or discarded equipment, rock, sand, cellar dirt, and industrial, municipal, and agricultural waste;
(4) “Retail merchant” means any person primarily engaged in the business of making retail sales. For purposes of this subdivision (a)(4), “primarily” means that at least fifty percent (50%) of the taxable gross sales of the business are retail sales; and
(5) “Retail sale” or “sale at retail” means any sale other than a wholesale sale.
(b) A person commits the offense of vandalism who knowingly:

(1) Causes damage to or the destruction of any real or personal property of another or of the state, the United States, any county, city, or town knowing that the person does not have the owner’s effective consent;
(2) Solicits, directs, aids, or attempts to aid another to commit vandalism of a retail merchant, while acting with the intent to promote or assist the commission of vandalism of a retail merchant, or to benefit in the proceeds or results of the offense;
(3) Damages merchandise offered for retail sale by a retail merchant; or
(4) Facilitates commission of vandalism of a retail merchant or acts as an accessory after the fact to vandalism of a retail merchant.
(c)

(1)

(A) A person violating subdivision (b)(1) or (b)(3) is a principal under § 39-11-401 and shall be punished as for theft under § 39-14-105, after determining value under § 39-11-106.
(B) In addition to any sentence imposed for a violation of subdivision (b)(1) or (b)(3), the court shall include an order of restitution for any property damage or loss or cleaning and restoration expenses incurred as a result of the offense.
(2) A person violating subdivision (b)(2) is a principal under § 39-11-402 and shall be punished as for theft under § 39-14-105, after determining value under § 39-11-106.
(3) A person violating subdivision (b)(4) by facilitating a felony act of vandalism committed under subdivision (b)(1) or (b)(3), shall be punished one (1) classification lower than the value of the act of vandalism committed under subdivision (b)(1) or (b)(3).
(4) A person violating subdivision (b)(4) as an accessory after the fact, under § 39-11-411, to a felony act of vandalism committed under subdivision (b)(1) or (b)(3) commits a Class E felony.
(5) Notwithstanding subdivision (c)(1)(A), a person violating subdivision (b)(1) by intentionally marring, marking upon, or defacing, in a temporary or permanent manner, state or local government property or any entrance or curtilage to or fixture on state or local government property, where the value determination under § 39-11-106 is less than two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500), commits a Class A misdemeanor, unless the state or local government property is designated as a historic landmark or listed on the national register of historic places, in which case the violation shall be punished in accordance with subdivision (c)(1). In addition, a second or subsequent violation of subdivision (b)(1) with respect to state or local government property shall be punished by a mandatory fine of five thousand dollars ($5,000).
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