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Glossary

Definitions are from the Department of Justice, except the violations* definitions which are from
the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act.

Definitions

Aggravated Assault - An unlawful attack by one person upon another wherein the offender uses a weapon or displays it in a threatening manner, or the victim suffers obvious severe or aggravated bodily injury involving apparent broken bones, loss of teeth, possible internal injury, severe laceration, or loss of consciousness. This also includes assault with disease (as in cases when the offender is aware that he/she is infected with a deadly disease and deliberately attempts to inflict the disease by biting, spitting, etc).

Aggravated Stalking, Stalking - "Stalking" means a willful course of conduct involving repeated or continuing, harassment of another individual that would cause a reasonable person to feel terrorized, frightened, intimidated, threatened,harassed, or molested, and that actually causes the victim to feel terrorized, frightened, intimidated,threatened, harassed, or molested.

Learn more by reading 39-17-315. Stalking, aggravated stalking, and especially aggravated stalking.

Arson - To unlawfully and intentionally damage, or attempt to damage, any real or personal property by fire or incendiary device.

Bias - A preformed negative opinion or attitude toward a group of persons based on their race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or ethnicity/national origin.

Bias Crime - A criminal offense committed against a person or property which is motivated, in whole or in part, by the offender's bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or ethnicity/national origin; also known as Hate Crime.

Note:  Even if the offender was mistaken in his/her perception that the victim was a member of the group he or she was acting against, the offense is still a bias crime because the offender was motivated by bias against the group.

Burglary - The unlawful entry into a building or other structure with the intent to commit a felony or a theft.

Disability Bias - A preformed negative opinion or attitude toward a group of persons based on their physical or mental impairments or challenges, whether such disability is temporary or permanent, congenital or acquired by heredity, accident, injury, advanced age, or illness.

Drug Abuse Violations* - Violations of State and local laws relating to the unlawful possession, sale, use, growing, manufacturing, and making of narcotic drugs. The relevant substances include: opium or cocaine and their derivatives (morphine, heroin, codeine); marijuana; synthetic narcotics (demerol, methadones); and dangerous non-narcotic drugs (barbiturates, benzedrine).

Ethnicity/National Origin Bias - A preformed negative opinion or attitude toward a group of persons of the same race or national origin who share common or similar traits, languages, customs, and traditions, e.g., Arabs, Hispanics.

Forcible Fondling - The touching of the private body parts of another person for the purpose of sexual gratification, forcibly and/or against that person's will; or not forcibly or against the person's will where the victim is incapable of giving consent because of his/her youth or because of his/her temporary or permanent mental or physical incapacity.

Forcible Rape (Except "Statutory Rape") - The carnal knowledge of a person, forcibly and/or against that person's will; or not forcibly or against the person's will where the victim is incapable of giving consent because of his/her temporary or permanent mental or physical incapacity.

Forcible Sodomy - Oral or anal sexual intercourse with another person, forcibly and/or against that person's will; or not forcibly or against the person's will where the victim is incapable of giving consent because of his/her youth or because of his/her temporary or permanent mental or physical incapacity.

Hate Crime - see Bias Crime.

Hate Group - An organization whose primary purpose is to promote animosity, hostility, and malice against persons belonging to a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity or national origin which differs from that of the members of the organization, e.g., the Ku Klux Klan, American Nazi Party.

Incest - Non-forcible sexual intercourse between persons who are related to each other within the degrees wherein marriage is prohibited by law.

Larceny - The unlawful taking, carrying, leading, or riding away of property from the possession, or constructive possession, of another person.

Liquor Law Violations* - The violation of laws or ordinances prohibiting: the manufacture, sale, transporting, furnishing, possessing of intoxicating liquor; maintaining unlawful drinking places; bootlegging; operating a still; furnishing liquor to a minor or intemperate person; using a vehicle for illegal transportation of liquor; drinking on a train or public conveyance; and all attempts to commit any of the aforementioned. (Drunkenness and driving under the influence are not included in this definition.)

Motor Vehicle Theft - The theft of a motor vehicle.

Note:  A "motor vehicle" is a self-propelled vehicle that runs on the surface of land and not on rails, and which includes automobiles, buses, recreational vehicles, trucks, motorcycles, motor scooters, trail bikes, mopeds, snowmobiles and golf carts.

Murder and Non-negligent Manslaughter - The willful (non-negligent) killing of one human being by another.

Negligent Manslaughter - The killing of another person through negligence.

Racial Bias - A preformed negative opinion or attitude toward a group of persons who possess common physical characteristics, e.g., color of skin, eyes, and/or hair; facial features; etc., genetically transmitted by descent and heredity which distinguish them as a distinct division of humankind, e.g., Asians, Blacks, Whites.

Religious Bias - A preformed negative opinion or attitude toward a group of persons who share the same religious beliefs regarding the origin and purpose of the universe and the existence or nonexistence of a supreme being, e.g., Catholics, Jews, Protestants, Atheists.

Robbery - The taking, or attempting to take, anything of value under confrontational circumstances from the control, custody, or care of another person by force or threat of force or violence and/or by putting the victim in fear of immediate harm.

Sexual Assault With An Object - To use an object or instrument to unlawfully penetrate, however slightly, the genital or anal opening of the body of another person, forcibly and/or against that person's will; or not forcibly or against the person's will where the victim is incapable of giving consent because of his/her youth or because of his/her temporary or permanent mental or physical incapacity.

Sexual-Orientation Bias - A preformed negative opinion or attitude toward a group of persons based on their sexual attraction toward, and responsiveness to, members of their own sex or members of the opposite sex, e.g., gays, lesbians, heterosexuals.

Stalking - See Aggravated Stalking.

Statutory Rape - Non-forcible sexual intercourse with a person who is under the statutory age of consent.

Weapon Law Violations - The violation of laws or ordinances dealing with weapon offenses, regulatory in nature, such as: manufacture, sale, or possession of deadly weapons; carrying deadly weapons, concealed or openly; furnishing deadly weapons to minors; aliens possessing deadly weapons; and all attempts to commit any of the aforementioned.

Last Published: Mar 12, 2021