Terms Used In Virginia Code > Title 37.2 > Subtitle I - General Provisions

• Abuse: means an employer's or employee's conduct or omissions that result in substantial misuse, destruction, waste, or loss of funds or resources belonging to or derived from federal, state, or local government sources. See Virginia Code 2.2-3010
• Abuse: means any act or failure to act by an employee or other person responsible for the care of an individual in a facility or program operated, licensed, or funded by the Department, excluding those operated by the Department of Corrections, that was performed or was failed to be performed knowingly, recklessly, or intentionally, and that caused or might have caused physical or psychological harm, injury, or death to an individual receiving care or treatment for mental illness, developmental disabilities, or substance abuse. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
• Abused or neglected child: means any child:

  1. See Virginia Code 16.1-228

• Adjournment sine die: The end of a legislative session "without day." These adjournments are used to indicate the final adjournment of an annual or the two-year session of legislature.
• Adoptive home: means the place of residence of any natural person in which a child resides as a member of the household and in which he has been placed for the purposes of adoption or in which he has been legally adopted by another member of the household. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
• Adult: means a person 18 years of age or older. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
• Adult: means a person 18 years of age or more. See Virginia Code 1-203
• Adult day care center: means any facility that is either operated for profit or that desires licensure and that provides supplementary care and protection during only a part of the day to four or more adults who are aged or infirm or who have disabilities and who reside elsewhere, except (i) a facility or portion of a facility licensed by the State Board of Health or the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services, and (ii) the home or residence of an individual who cares for only persons related to him by blood or marriage. See Virginia Code 63.2-100
• Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
• Allegation: something that someone says happened.
• 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.
• Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
• 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.
• Appropriate authority: means a federal, state, or local agency or organization having jurisdiction over criminal law enforcement, regulatory violations, professional conduct or ethics, or abuse; or a member, officer, agent, representative, or supervisory employee of the agency or organization. See Virginia Code 2.2-3010
• 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
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Assets: means the buildings and land of state facilities operated by the Department. See Virginia Code 37.2-317
• Assistive technology: means any item, piece of equipment or device that enables an individual with a disability to improve his or her independence and quality of life. See Virginia Code 51.5-53
• attorney: means attorney-at-law. See Virginia Code 54.1-3900
• Attorney-at-law: A person who is legally qualified and licensed to practice law, and to represent and act for clients in legal proceedings.
• Authority: means the Assistive Technology Loan Fund Authority established pursuant to this chapter. See Virginia Code 51.5-53
• authority: means a public body and a body corporate and politic organized in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 6 (§ 37. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
• 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.
• Battlefield preservation organization: means a private nonprofit organization whose primary purpose is the preservation of one or more historical battlefields, including a battlefield property as defined in § 10. See Virginia Code 10.1-2300
• Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. ^{Source: OCC}
• Bequest: Property gifted by will.
• Board: means the Board of Historic Resources. See Virginia Code 10.1-2200
• Board: means the Board of Directors of the Assistive Technology Loan Fund Authority. See Virginia Code 51.5-53
• Board: when used in this chapter shall mean the Board of Bar Examiners. See Virginia Code 54.1-3919
• Board: means the State Board of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
• Bonds: means notes, bonds, certificates, and other evidence of indebtedness or obligation of the Authority. See Virginia Code 51.5-53
• Brain injury: means any injury to the brain that occurs after birth that is acquired through traumatic or non-traumatic insults. See Virginia Code 37.2-403
• Budget Bill: means the Budget Bill submitted pursuant to § 2. See Virginia Code 2.2-1831.1
• Chief judge: The judge who has primary responsibility for the administration of a court but also decides cases; chief judges are determined by seniority.
• Child in need of services: means (i) a child whose behavior, conduct or condition presents or results in a serious threat to the well-being and physical safety of the child or (ii) a child under the age of 14 whose behavior, conduct or condition presents or results in a serious threat to the well-being and physical safety of another person; however, no child who in good faith is under treatment solely by spiritual means through prayer in accordance with the tenets and practices of a recognized church or religious denomination shall for that reason alone be considered to be a child in need of services, nor shall any child who habitually remains away from or habitually deserts or abandons his family as a result of what the court or the local child protective services unit determines to be incidents of physical, emotional or sexual abuse in the home be considered a child in need of services for that reason alone. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
• Child in need of supervision: means :

  1. See Virginia Code 16.1-228

• Child welfare agency: means a child-placing agency, child-caring institution or independent foster home as defined in § 63. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
• Commissioner: means the Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services. See Virginia Code 3.2-100
• Commissioner: means the Commissioner of the Department, his designee or authorized representative. See Virginia Code 63.2-100
• Committee membership: Legislators are assigned to specific committees by their party. Seniority, regional balance, and political philosophy are the most prominent factors in the committee assignment process.
• Common law: The legal system that originated in England and is now in use in the United States. It is based on judicial decisions rather than legislative action.
• Community services board: means the public body established pursuant to § 37. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Concurrent resolution: A legislative measure, designated "S. Con. Res." and numbered consecutively upon introduction, generally employed to address the sentiments of both chambers, to deal with issues or matters affecting both houses, such as a concurrent budget resolution, or to create a temporary joint committee. Concurrent resolutions are not submitted to the President/Governor and thus do not have the force of law.
• Conditional license: means a license issued in accordance with the requirements of § 37. See Virginia Code 37.2-403
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• County: means any existing county or such unit hereafter created. See Virginia Code 15.2-102
• Courts of record: means the Supreme Court of Virginia, the Court of Appeals of Virginia, and the circuit courts. See Virginia Code 1-212
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Delinquent act: means (i) an act designated a crime under the law of the Commonwealth, or an ordinance of any city, county, town, or service district, or under federal law, (ii) a violation of § 18. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
• Delinquent child: means a child who has committed a delinquent act or an adult who has committed a delinquent act prior to his 18th birthday, except where the jurisdiction of the juvenile court has been terminated under the provisions of § 16. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
• Department: means the Department of Historic Resources. See Virginia Code 10.1-2200
• Department: means the Department of Juvenile Justice and "Director" means the administrative head in charge thereof or such of his assistants and subordinates as are designated by him to discharge the duties imposed upon him under this law. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
• Department: means the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
• Department: means the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. See Virginia Code 3.2-100
• Department: means the State Department of Social Services. See Virginia Code 63.2-100
• detention home: means a local, regional or state public or private locked residential facility that has construction fixtures designed to prevent escape and to restrict the movement and activities of children held in lawful custody. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
• Developmental disability: means a severe, chronic disability of an individual that (i) is attributable to a mental or physical impairment, or a combination of mental and physical impairments, other than a sole diagnosis of mental illness; (ii) is manifested before the individual reaches 22 years of age; (iii) is likely to continue indefinitely; (iv) results in substantial functional limitations in three or more of the following areas of major life activity: self-care, receptive and expressive language, learning, mobility, self-direction, capacity for independent living, or economic self-sufficiency; and (v) reflects the individual's need for a combination and sequence of special interdisciplinary or generic services, individualized supports, or other forms of assistance that are of lifelong or extended duration and are individually planned and coordinated. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
• Developmental services: means planned, individualized, and person-centered services and supports provided to individuals with developmental disabilities for the purpose of enabling these individuals to increase their self-determination and independence, obtain employment, participate fully in all aspects of community life, advocate for themselves, and achieve their fullest potential to the greatest extent possible. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
• Devise: To gift property by will.
• Director: means the Director of the Department of Historic Resources. See Virginia Code 10.1-2200
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
• Employee: means any person who is regularly employed full time on either a salaried or wage basis, whose tenure is not restricted as to temporary or provisional appointment, in the service of and whose compensation is payable, no more often than biweekly, in whole or in part, by a governmental agency. See Virginia Code 2.2-3010
• Employer: means a person supervising one or more employees, including the employee filing a good faith report, a superior of that supervisor, or an agent of the governmental agency. See Virginia Code 2.2-3010
• Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• Ex officio: Literally, by virtue of one's office.
• Ex officio: means service by virtue of one's office and includes voting privileges for ex officio members unless otherwise provided. See Virginia Code 1-215
• Facility: means a state or licensed hospital, training center, psychiatric hospital, or other type of residential or outpatient mental health or developmental services facility. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
• Fair market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
• Family abuse: means any act involving violence, force, or threat that results in bodily injury or places one in reasonable apprehension of death, sexual assault, or bodily injury and that is committed by a person against such person's family or household member. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
• Family member: means an immediate family member of an individual receiving services or the principal caregiver of that individual. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
• farm: means any person that obtains at least 51 percent of its annual gross income from agricultural operations and produces the agricultural waste used as feedstock for the waste-to-energy technology, (ii) "agricultural waste" means biomass waste materials capable of decomposition that are produced from the raising of plants and animals during agricultural operations, including animal manures, bedding, plant stalks, hulls, and vegetable matter, and (iii) "waste-to-energy technology" means any technology, including but not limited to a methane digester, that converts agricultural waste into gas, steam, or heat that is used to generate electricity on-site. See Virginia Code 1-222.1
• Fictive kin: means persons who are not related to a child by blood or adoption but have an established relationship with the child or his family. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
• Field investigation: means the study of the traces of human culture at any site by means of surveying, sampling, excavating, or removing surface or subsurface material, or going on a site with that intent. See Virginia Code 10.1-2300
• 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.
• Freedom of Information Act: A federal law that mandates that all the records created and kept by federal agencies in the executive branch of government must be open for public inspection and copying. The only exceptions are those records that fall into one of nine exempted categories listed in the statute. ^{Source: OCC}
• Full license: means a license issued in accordance with the requirements of § 37. See Virginia Code 37.2-403
• Fund: means the Assistive Technology Loan Fund established pursuant to this chapter. See Virginia Code 51.5-53
• Fund: means the Revenue Reserve Fund. See Virginia Code 2.2-1831.1
• Fund: means the Behavioral Health and Developmental Services Trust Fund. See Virginia Code 37.2-317
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Good faith report: means a report of conduct defined in this chapter as wrongdoing or abuse that is made without malice and that the person making the report has reasonable cause to believe is true. See Virginia Code 2.2-3010
• Governing body: means the board of supervisors of a county, council of a city, or council of a town, as the context may require. See Virginia Code 15.2-102
• Governmental agency: means (i) any agency, institution, board, bureau, commission, council, or instrumentality of state government in the executive branch listed in the appropriation act and any independent agency; (ii) any county, city, or town or local or regional governmental authority; and (iii) any local school division as defined in § 22. See Virginia Code 2.2-3010
• 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.
• Hearing dog: means a dog trained to alert its owner by touch to sounds of danger and sounds to which the owner should respond. See Virginia Code 51.5-40.1
• Impeachment: (1) The process of calling something into question, as in "impeaching the testimony of a witness." (2) The constitutional process whereby the House of Representatives may "impeach" (accuse of misconduct) high officers of the federal government for trial in the Senate.
• in writing: include any representation of words, letters, symbols, numbers, or figures, whether (i) printed or inscribed on a tangible medium or (ii) stored in an electronic or other medium and retrievable in a perceivable form and whether an electronic signature authorized by Chapter 42. See Virginia Code 1-257
• Independent living services: includes counseling, education, housing, employment, and money management skills development and access to essential documents and other appropriate services to help children or persons prepare for self-sufficiency. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
• individual: means a current direct recipient of public or private mental health, developmental, or substance abuse treatment, rehabilitation, or habilitation services and includes the terms "consumer" "patient" "resident" "recipient" or "client. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
• inhabitants: means with reference to any county, city, town, political subdivision of the Commonwealth or any combination thereof, the natural persons in such county, city, town, political subdivision or combination as shown by the unadjusted United States decennial census last preceding the time at which any provision dependent upon population is being applied or the time as of which it is being construed. See Virginia Code 1-235
• Intake officer: means a juvenile probation officer appointed as such pursuant to the authority of this chapter. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
• Intellectual disability: means a disability, originating before the age of 18 years, characterized concurrently by (i) significant subaverage intellectual functioning as demonstrated by performance on a standardized measure of intellectual functioning, administered in conformity with accepted professional practice, that is at least two standard deviations below the mean and (ii) significant limitations in adaptive behavior as expressed in conceptual, social, and practical adaptive skills. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
• judge: means the judge or the substitute judge of the juvenile and domestic relations district court of each county or city. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
• juvenile and domestic relations court: means the juvenile and domestic relations district court of each county or city. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
• law: means the Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court Law embraced in this chapter. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• Legal custody: means (i) a legal status created by court order which vests in a custodian the right to have physical custody of the child, to determine and redetermine where and with whom he shall live, the right and duty to protect, train and discipline him and to provide him with food, shelter, education and ordinary medical care, all subject to any residual parental rights and responsibilities or (ii) the legal status created by court order of joint custody as defined in § 20-107. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
• licensed: means a state hospital and a licensed hospital that provides care and treatment for persons with mental illness. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
• Licensed hospital: means a hospital or institution, including a psychiatric unit of a general hospital, that is licensed pursuant to the provisions of this title. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Local board: means the local board of social services representing one or more counties or cities. See Virginia Code 63.2-100
• Mental health services: means planned individualized interventions intended to reduce or ameliorate mental illness or the effects of mental illness through care, treatment, counseling, rehabilitation, medical or psychiatric care, or other supports provided to individuals with mental illness for the purpose of enabling these individuals to increase their self-determination and independence, obtain remunerative employment, participate fully in all aspects of community life, advocate for themselves, and achieve their fullest potential to the greatest extent possible. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
• Mental illness: means a disorder of thought, mood, emotion, perception, or orientation that significantly impairs judgment, behavior, capacity to recognize reality, or ability to address basic life necessities and requires care and treatment for the health, safety, or recovery of the individual or for the safety of others. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
• Mental impairment: means (i) a disability attributable to intellectual disability, autism, or any other neurological disability closely related to intellectual disability and requiring treatment similar to that required by individuals with intellectual disability or (ii) an organic or mental impairment that has substantial adverse effects on an individual's cognitive or volitional functions, including central nervous system disorders or significant discrepancies among mental functions of an individual. See Virginia Code 51.5-40.1
• minor: means a person who is (i) younger than 18 years of age or (ii) for purposes of the Fostering Futures program set forth in Article 2 (§ 63. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
• Misconduct: means conduct or behavior by an employee that is inconsistent with state, local, or agency standards for which specific corrective or disciplinary action is warranted. See Virginia Code 2.2-3010
• Month: means a calendar month and "year" means a calendar year. See Virginia Code 1-223
• Neglect: means failure by a person or a program or facility operated, licensed, or funded by the Department, excluding those operated by the Department of Corrections, responsible for providing services to do so, including nourishment, treatment, care, goods, or services necessary to the health, safety, or welfare of an individual receiving care or treatment for mental illness, developmental disabilities, or substance abuse. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
• Net proceeds: means the gross amount received by the seller on account of the sale of any assets (i) less costs incurred on behalf of the seller in connection with such sale and (ii), if after the sale the sold assets will be used by an entity other than a state agency or instrumentality or a local governmental entity in a governmental activity and debt obligations financed any portion of the sold assets and any amount of such obligations is outstanding at the time of the sale, less the amount necessary to provide for the payment or redemption of the portion of such outstanding obligations that financed the sold assets, which amount shall be used to pay or redeem such obligations or shall be transferred to the third party issuer of the obligations for a use permitted in accordance with such obligations. See Virginia Code 37.2-317
• Nonlegislative citizen member: means any natural person who is not a member of the General Assembly of Virginia. See Virginia Code 1-225
• Object of antiquity: means any relic, artifact, remain, including human skeletal remains, specimen, or other archaeological article that may be found on, in, or below the surface of the earth that has historic, scientific, archaeologic, or educational value. See Virginia Code 10.1-2300
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• Otherwise disabled person: means any person who has a physical, sensory, intellectual, developmental, or mental disability or a mental illness. See Virginia Code 51.5-40.1
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• Parent: includes parent, guardian, legal custodian, or other person standing in loco parentis. See Virginia Code 16.1-278.1
• Person: means any natural individual, partnership, association, corporation, or other legal entity. See Virginia Code 10.1-2300
• Person with a disability: means any person who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of his major life activities or who has a record of such impairment. See Virginia Code 51.5-40.1
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• 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:
• Pleadings: Written statements of the parties in a civil case of their positions. In the federal courts, the principal pleadings are the complaint and the answer.
• 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}
• Presiding officer: A majority-party Senator who presides over the Senate and is charged with maintaining order and decorum, recognizing Members to speak, and interpreting the Senate's rules, practices and precedents.
• Pretrial services officers: Screen applicants for pretrial release and monitor convicted offenders released under court supervision.
• Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
• Probation officers: Screen applicants for pretrial release and monitor convicted offenders released under court supervision.
• Process: includes subpoenas, the summons and complaint in a civil action, and process in statutory actions. See Virginia Code 1-237
• Provider: means any person, entity, or organization, excluding an agency of the federal government by whatever name or designation, that delivers (i) services to individuals with mental illness, developmental disabilities, or substance abuse or (ii) residential services for persons with brain injury. See Virginia Code 37.2-403
• Provisional license: means a license issued to a provider previously issued a full license that has demonstrated a temporary inability to maintain compliance with licensing or human rights regulations or that has failed to comply with a previous corrective action plan, and that allows the provider to continue operating for a limited time while addressing the inability or failure to comply with regulations. See Virginia Code 37.2-403
• Public defender: Represent defendants who can't afford an attorney in criminal matters.
• Public facilities: means (i) airports, landing fields, and air navigation facilities; (ii) educational facilities; (iii) flood control, bank and shore protection, watershed protection, and dams; (iv) hospital facilities; (v) judicial and court facilities; (vi) correctional facilities, including jails and penitentiaries; (vii) library facilities; (viii) military installations; (ix) parks so designated by the Commonwealth or by the locality in its comprehensive plan; (x) properties of historical significance so designated by the Commonwealth; (xi) law enforcement, fire, emergency medical, and rescue facilities; (xii) sanitary sewer, water or stormwater facilities; (xiii) transportation facilities including highways, roads, streets, and bridges, traffic signals, related easements and rights-of-way, mass transit, ports, and any components of federal, state, or local transportation facilities; (xiv) waste management facilities for hazardous, radioactive, or other waste; (xv) office facilities occupied by a public corporation; and (xvi) such other facilities that are necessary to the construction, maintenance, or operation of a public facility as listed in clauses (i) through (xv) and directly related thereto. See Virginia Code 1-219.1
• Qualified residential treatment program: means a program that (i) provides 24-hour residential placement services for children in foster care; (ii) has adopted a trauma-informed treatment model that meets the clinical and other needs of children with serious emotional or behavioral disorders, including any clinical or other needs identified through assessments conducted pursuant to clause (viii) of this definition; (iii) employs registered or licensed nursing and other clinical staff who provide care, on site and within the scope of their practice, and are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week; (iv) conducts outreach with the child's family members, including efforts to maintain connections between the child and his siblings and other family; documents and maintains records of such outreach efforts; and maintains contact information for any known biological family and fictive kin of the child; (v) whenever appropriate and in the best interest of the child, facilitates participation by family members in the child's treatment program before and after discharge and documents the manner in which such participation is facilitated; (vi) provides discharge planning and family-based aftercare support for at least six months after discharge; (vii) is licensed in accordance with 42 U. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
• Qualifying borrower: means any person who demonstrates that a loan made pursuant to this chapter will assist one or more persons with disabilities to improve their independence or become more productive members of the community. See Virginia Code 51.5-53
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• real estate: includes lands, tenements and hereditaments, and all rights and appurtenances thereto and interests therein, other than a chattel interest. See Virginia Code 1-219
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• 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.
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• Sentencing guidelines: A set of rules and principles established by the United States Sentencing Commission that trial judges use to determine the sentence for a convicted defendant. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• Service area: means the city or county or combination of cities and counties or counties or cities that is served by a community services board or behavioral health authority or the cities and counties that are served by a state facility. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
• Service dog: means a dog trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of a mobility-impaired or otherwise disabled person. See Virginia Code 51.5-40.1
• Shelter care: means the temporary care of children in physically unrestricting facilities. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
• Site: means a geographical area on dry land that contains any evidence of human activity that is or may be the source of important historic, scientific, archaeologic, or educational data or objects. See Virginia Code 10.1-2300
• Species: includes any species or variety of plant life or insects. See Virginia Code 3.2-1000
• state agency: means the same as that term is defined in § 2. See Virginia Code 1-206
• State Board: means the State Board of Juvenile Justice. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
• State hospital: means a hospital, psychiatric institute, or other institution operated by the Department that provides care and treatment for persons with mental illness. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
• State-controlled land: includes state parks, state wildlife areas, state recreation areas, highway rights-of-way, and state-owned easements. See Virginia Code 10.1-2300
• Status offender: means a child who commits an act prohibited by law which would not be criminal if committed by an adult. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Substance abuse: means the use of drugs, enumerated in the Virginia Drug Control Act (§ 54. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• Supreme Court: means the Supreme Court of Virginia. See Virginia Code 1-249
• sworn: means "affirm" or "affirmed. See Virginia Code 1-250
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Three-unit service dog team: means a team consisting of a trained service dog, a person with a disability, and a person who is an adult and who has been trained to handle the service dog. See Virginia Code 51.5-40.1
• Town: means any existing town or an incorporated community within one or more counties which became a town before noon, July one, nineteen hundred seventy-one, as provided by law or which has within defined boundaries a population of 1,000 or more and which has become a town as provided by law. See Virginia Code 15.2-102
• Training center: means a facility operated by the Department that provides training, habilitation, or other individually focused supports to persons with intellectual disability. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Trust account: A general term that covers all types of accounts in a trust department, such as estates, guardianships, and agencies. ^{Source: OCC}
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• United States: includes the 50 states, the District of Columbia the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-255
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
• Violent juvenile felony: means any of the delinquent acts enumerated in subsection B or C of § 16. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
• Whistle blower: includes a citizen of the Commonwealth who witnesses or has evidence of wrongdoing or abuse and who makes or demonstrates by clear and convincing evidence that he is about to make a good faith report of, or testifies or is about to testify to, the wrongdoing or abuse to an appropriate authority. See Virginia Code 2.2-3010
• Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.
• Wrongdoing: means a violation, which is not of a merely technical or minimal nature, of a federal or state law or regulation, local ordinance, or a formally adopted code of conduct or ethics of a professional organization designed to protect the interests of the public or employee. See Virginia Code 2.2-3010