Texas Government Code 420.003 – Definitions
Terms Used In Texas Government Code 420.003
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Person: includes corporation, organization, government or governmental subdivision or agency, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, association, and any other legal entity. See Texas Government Code 311.005
- Rule: includes regulation. See Texas Government Code 311.005
- Statute of limitations: A law that sets the time within which parties must take action to enforce their rights.
In this chapter:
(1) “Accredited crime laboratory” means a crime laboratory, as that term is defined by Article 38.35, Code of Criminal Procedure, that has been accredited under Article 38.01 of that code.
(1-a) “Active criminal case” means a case:
(A) in which:
(i) a sexual assault or other sex offense has been reported to a law enforcement agency;
(ii) physical evidence of the offense has been submitted to the agency or an accredited crime laboratory under this chapter for analysis; and
(iii) the agency documents that an offense has been committed and reported; and
(B) for which:
(i) the statute of limitations has not run with respect to the prosecution of the offense; or
(ii) a DNA profile was obtained that is eligible under § 420.043 for comparison with DNA profiles in the state database or CODIS DNA database.
(1-b) “Advocate” means a person who provides advocacy services as an employee or volunteer of a sexual assault program.
(1-c) “Department” means the Department of Public Safety of the State of Texas.
(1-d) “Law enforcement agency” means a state or local law enforcement agency in this state with jurisdiction over the investigation of a sexual assault or other sex offense.
(1-e) “Minimum services” means:
(A) a 24-hour crisis hotline;
(B) crisis intervention;
(C) public education;
(D) advocacy; and
(E) accompaniment to hospitals, law enforcement offices, prosecutors’ offices, and courts.
(2) Repealed by Acts 2013, 83rd Leg., R.S., Ch. 1173, Sec. 17, eff. September 1, 2013.
(3) “Sex offense” means an offense under Chapter 21, Penal Code, for which biological evidence is collected in an evidence collection kit.
(4) “Sexual assault” means any act or attempted act as described by § 21.02, 21.11, 22.011, 22.021, or 25.02, Penal Code.
(5) “Sexual assault examiner” means a person who uses an attorney general-approved evidence collection kit and protocol to collect and preserve evidence of a sexual assault or other sex offense.
(6) “Sexual assault nurse examiner” means a registered nurse who has completed an attorney general-approved examiner training course described by § 420.011 and who is certified according to minimum standards prescribed by attorney general rule.
(7) “Sexual assault program” means any local public or private nonprofit corporation, independent of a law enforcement agency or prosecutor’s office, that is operated as an independent program or as part of a municipal, county, or state agency and that provides the minimum services to adult survivors of stranger and non-stranger sexual assault.
(7-a) “State sexual assault coalition” means a statewide nonprofit organization that has been identified as a state sexual assault coalition by a state or federal agency authorized to make that designation.
(8) “Survivor” means an individual who is a victim of a sexual assault or other sex offense, regardless of whether a report or conviction is made in the incident.