North Dakota Code 12.1-41-01 – Definitions
In this chapter:
Terms Used In North Dakota Code 12.1-41-01
- Force: means physical action. See North Dakota Code 12.1-01-04
- Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
- Government: means :
a. See North Dakota Code 12.1-01-04
- Harm: means loss, disadvantage, or injury to the person affected, and includes loss, disadvantage, or injury to any other person in whose welfare the person affected is interested. See North Dakota Code 12.1-01-04
- Individual: means a human being. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
- 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.
- 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.
- Offense: means conduct for which a term of imprisonment or a fine is authorized by statute after conviction. See North Dakota Code 12.1-01-04
- person: includes , where relevant, a corporation, limited liability company, partnership, unincorporated association, or other legal entity. See North Dakota Code 12.1-01-04
- Process: means a writ or summons issued in the course of judicial proceedings. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
- Property: includes property, real and personal. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
- State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
- United States: includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
1. “Adult” means an individual eighteen years of age or older.
2. “Coercion” means:
a. The use or threat of force against, abduction of, serious harm to, or physical restraint of, an individual; b. The use of a plan, pattern, or statement with intent to cause an individual to believe that failure to perform an act will result in the use of force against, abduction of, serious harm to, or physical restraint of, an individual; c. The abuse or threatened abuse of law or legal process; d. Controlling or threatening to control an individual’s access to a controlled substance as defined in section 19-03.1-01; e. The destruction or taking of or the threatened destruction or taking of an individual’s identification document or other property; f. The use of debt bondage; g. The use of an individual’s physical or mental impairment when the impairment has a substantial adverse effect on the individual’s cognitive or volitional function; or
h. The commission of civil or criminal fraud.
3. “Commercial sexual activity” means sexual activity for which anything of value is given to, promised to, or received, by a person.
4. “Debt bondage” means inducing an individual to provide commercial sexual activity in payment toward or satisfaction of a real or purported debt or inducing an individual to provide labor or services in payment toward or satisfaction of a real or purported debt if the reasonable value of the labor or services is not applied toward the liquidation of the debt or if the length of the labor or services is not limited and the nature of the labor or services is not defined. The term does not include an effort by a creditor to collect an enforceable obligation by means that are permitted under state or federal laws.
5. “Human trafficking” means the commission of an offense created by section 12.1-41-02 through 12.1-41-06.
6. “Identification document” means a passport, driver’s license, immigration document, travel document, or other government-issued identification document, including a document issued by a foreign government.
7. “Labor or services” means activity having economic value.
8. “Minor” means an individual less than eighteen years of age.
9. “Serious harm” means harm, whether physical or nonphysical, including psychological, economic, or reputational, to an individual which would compel a reasonable individual of the same background and in the same circumstances to perform or continue to perform labor or services or sexual activity to avoid incurring the harm.
10. “Sexual activity” means “sexual act” as defined in section 12.1-20-02. The term includes a sexually explicit performance.
11. “State” means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. The term includes an Indian tribe or band recognized by federal law or formally acknowledged by a state.
12. “Victim” means an individual who is subjected to human trafficking or to conduct that would have constituted human trafficking had this chapter been in effect when the conduct occurred, regardless of whether a perpetrator is identified, apprehended, prosecuted, or convicted.