Terms Used In North Dakota Code > Chapter 12.1-32 - Penalties and Sentencing

• action: means a bodily movement, whether voluntary or involuntary. See North Dakota Code 12.1-01-04
• actions: include , where relevant, "omitted to act" and "omissions to act". See North Dakota Code 12.1-01-04
• 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.
• 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.
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Bodily injury: means any impairment of physical condition, including physical pain. See North Dakota Code 12.1-01-04
• children: includes children by birth and by adoption. See North Dakota Code 1-01-18
• Clerk of court: An officer appointed by the court to work with the chief judge in overseeing the court's administration, especially to assist in managing the flow of cases through the court and to maintain court records.
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Court: means any of the following courts: the supreme court, a district court, and where relevant, a municipal court. See North Dakota Code 12.1-01-04
• 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.
• Destructive device: means any explosive, incendiary or poison gas bomb, grenade, mine, rocket, missile, or similar device. See North Dakota Code 12.1-01-04
• Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
• 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.
• Explosive: means gunpowders, powders used for blasting, all forms of high explosives, blasting materials, fuses (other than electric circuit breakers), detonators and other detonating agents, smokeless powders, and any chemical compounds, mechanical mixture, or other ingredients in such proportions, quantities, or packing that ignition by fire, by friction, by concussion, by percussion, or by detonation of the compound, or material, or any part thereof may cause an explosion. See North Dakota Code 12.1-01-04
• Firearm: means any weapon that will expel, or is readily capable of expelling, a projectile by the action of an explosive and includes any such weapon, loaded or unloaded, commonly referred to as a pistol, revolver, rifle, gun, machine gun, shotgun, bazooka, or cannon. See North Dakota Code 12.1-01-04
• following: when used by way of reference to a chapter or other part of a statute means the next preceding or next following chapter or other part. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
• Force: means physical action. See North Dakota Code 12.1-01-04
• 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
• 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.
• 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.
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Local: means of or pertaining to any political subdivision of the state. See North Dakota Code 12.1-01-04
• Manifest injustice: means a specific finding by the court that the imposition of sentence is unreasonably harsh or shocking to the conscience of a reasonable individual, with due consideration of the totality of circumstances. See North Dakota Code 12.1-01-04
• Nolo contendere: No contest-has the same effect as a plea of guilty, as far as the criminal sentence is concerned, but may not be considered as an admission of guilt for any other purpose.
• 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
• Organization: includes a foreign or domestic association, business trust, corporation, enterprise, estate, joint venture, limited liability company, limited liability partnership, limited partnership, partnership, trust, or any legal or commercial entity. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
• Penitentiary: includes any affiliated facilities. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
• person: includes , where relevant, a corporation, limited liability company, partnership, unincorporated association, or other legal entity. See North Dakota Code 12.1-01-04
• 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.
• Possesses: means an individual has:

  a. See North Dakota Code 12.1-01-04

• 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.
• Probation officers: Screen applicants for pretrial release and monitor convicted offenders released under court supervision.
• 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
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• Risk assessment: means an initial phase with a secondary process approved by the department of health and human services for the evaluation of the likelihood a person that committed an offense will commit another similar offense. See North Dakota Code 12.1-01-04
• Rule: includes regulation. 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
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• subscription: includes "mark" when the person cannot write, the person's name being written near it and written by a person who writes that person's own name as a witness. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Trial jury: A group of citizens who hear the evidence presented by both sides at trial and determine the facts in dispute. Federal criminal juries consist of 12 persons. Federal civil juries consist of six persons.
• United States: includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
• Verdict: The decision of a petit jury or a judge.
• verdict: includes not only the verdict of a jury, but also the finding upon the facts of a judge or of a master appointed to determine the issues in a cause. See North Dakota Code 1-01-41
• week: means seven consecutive days and the word "month" a calendar month. See North Dakota Code 1-01-33
• written: include "typewriting" and "typewritten" and "printing" and "printed" except in the case of signatures and when the words are used by way of contrast to typewriting and printing. See North Dakota Code 1-01-37
• year: means twelve consecutive months. See North Dakota Code 1-01-33