Terms Used In Tennessee Code > Title 40 > Chapter 38 - Victims' Rights

• Administrator of elections: means the chief county election administrative officer appointed by the county election commission and such official's designee or designees. See Tennessee Code 40-38-601
• 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.
• Applicant: means the person who applies to be a program participant and who is or has been a victim of domestic abuse, stalking, human trafficking, rape, sexual battery, or another sexual offense. See Tennessee Code 40-38-601
• Application: means the form or forms submitted, in the manner prescribed by the secretary of state, by an individual requesting certification for the address confidentiality program. See Tennessee Code 40-38-601
• Application assistant: means an employee or volunteer at an agency or organization that serves victims of domestic abuse, stalking, human trafficking, rape, sexual battery, or any other sexual offense, who has received training and certification from the secretary of state to help individuals complete applications to be program participants. See Tennessee Code 40-38-601
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Bail: Security given for the release of a criminal defendant or witness from legal custody (usually in the form of money) to secure his/her appearance on the day and time appointed.
• Certified prescribed burn manager: means a person who successfully completes the prescribed burner certification program approved by the division of forestry. See Tennessee Code 11-4-1002
• Co-applicant: means the spouse, parent, or fiduciary of the applicant who lives in the same residence as the applicant at the time the application is made and who resides in the same residence with the applicant while the applicant is a program participant. See Tennessee Code 40-38-601
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Confidential address: means the actual address of a program participant's residence, school, institution of higher education, business, or place of employment, as specified on an application to be a program participant or on a notice of change of address filed under this part. See Tennessee Code 40-38-601
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Coordinator of elections: means the official appointed by the secretary of state in accordance with §. See Tennessee Code 40-38-601
• 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: means :
  (A) Any offense the punishment for which is a Class A, B, C, D or E felony. See Tennessee Code 40-38-302
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• Division: means the division of forestry within the department. See Tennessee Code 11-4-103
• 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.
• family member: is a minor, the minor may be represented by a guardian where appropriate. See Tennessee Code 40-38-302
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Forestry: means the professional application of scientific principles in the management and use of forest land. See Tennessee Code 11-4-103
• Governmental entity: means the state, a political subdivision of the state, or any department, agency, board, commission, or other instrumentality of the state or a political subdivision of the state. See Tennessee Code 40-38-601
• Grand jury: agreement providing that a lender will delay exercising its rights (in the case of a mortgage,
• Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
• Habeas corpus: A writ that is usually used to bring a prisoner before the court to determine the legality of his imprisonment. It may also be used to bring a person in custody before the court to give testimony, or to be prosecuted.
• Highway: includes public bridges and may be held equivalent to the words "county way" "county road" or "state road". See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Indictment: The formal charge issued by a grand jury stating that there is enough evidence that the defendant committed the crime to justify having a trial; it is used primarily for felonies.
• 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.
• Lands: includes lands, tenements and hereditaments, and all rights thereto and interests therein, equitable as well as legal. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Minor: means any person who has not attained eighteen (18) years of age. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Parent: includes biological and adoptive parents, as defined in §. See Tennessee Code 40-38-601
• participant: means a person who is certified by the secretary of state as a program participant and who is an applicant, co-applicant, the child of an applicant or co-applicant, or a person with a disability for whom an applicant or co-applicant serves as a fiduciary. See Tennessee Code 40-38-601
• 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.
• Person: includes a corporation, firm, company or association. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Plea: In a criminal case, the defendant's statement pleading "guilty" or "not guilty" in answer to the charges, a declaration made in open court.
• Plea agreement: An arrangement between the prosecutor, the defense attorney, and the defendant in which the defendant agrees to plead guilty in exchange for special considerations. ^Source:
• Prescribed burning: means the controlled application of fire to naturally occurring vegetative fuels for ecological, silvicultural and wildlife management purposes under specified environmental conditions and the following of appropriate precautionary measures which cause the fire to be confined to a predetermined area and accomplishes the planned land management objectives. See Tennessee Code 11-4-1002
• Prescription: means a written plan for starting and controlling a prescribed burn to accomplish ecological, silvicultural and wildlife management objectives. See Tennessee Code 11-4-1002
• Presentence report: A report prepared by a court's probation officer, after a person has been convicted of an offense, summarizing for the court the background information needed to determine the appropriate sentence. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
• Process: means judicial process and all orders, demands, notices, or other papers required or permitted by law to be served on a program participant. See Tennessee Code 40-38-601
• program: means the program created under this part to protect the confidentiality of the confidential address of a relocated victim of domestic abuse, stalking, human trafficking, rape, sexual battery, or any other sexual offense. See Tennessee Code 40-38-601
• Property: includes both personal and real property. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Record: means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in a perceivable form. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Representative: when applied to those who represent a decedent, includes executors and administrators, unless the context implies heirs and distributees. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• secretary: means the secretary of state of Tennessee and any designee of the secretary. See Tennessee Code 40-38-601
• Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
• Sexual offense: means a sexual offense or violent sexual offense as defined in §. See Tennessee Code 40-38-601
• signed: includes a mark, the name being written near the mark and witnessed, or any other symbol or methodology executed or adopted by a party with intention to authenticate a writing or record, regardless of being witnessed. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• 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
• 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.
• Substitute address: means an address designated by the secretary of state under the address confidentiality program that is used instead of a confidential address as set forth by this part. See Tennessee Code 40-38-601
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• United States: includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Victim: means an individual who suffers direct or threatened physical, emotional or financial harm as the result of the commission of a crime or an immediate family member of a minor victim or a homicide victim. See Tennessee Code 40-38-203
• Victim: means :
  (i) A natural person against whom a crime was committed. See Tennessee Code 40-38-302
• Victim advocate: work with prosecutors and assist the victims of a crime.
• Victim Impact Statement: A written or spoken statement by the victim or his or her representative about the physical, emotional, and financial impact of a crime on the victim. The statement is given to the court before sentencing.
• Victim impact statement: means a statement providing information about the financial, emotional and physical effects of the crime on the victim and the victim's family and specific information about the victim, the circumstances surrounding the crime and the manner in which it was perpetrated. See Tennessee Code 40-38-203
• Victim representative: means a spouse, parent, child, sibling or other relative of a deceased or incapacitated victim or of a victim who is under eighteen (18) years of age or a person who has had a close personal relationship with the victim and who is designated by the court to be a victim representative. See Tennessee Code 40-38-203
• written: includes printing, typewriting, engraving, lithography, and any other mode of representing words and letters. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Year: means a calendar year, unless otherwise expressed. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105