Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws > Chapter 40-11 - Abused and Neglected Children

• Abused or neglected child: means a child whose physical or mental health or welfare is harmed, or threatened with harm, when his or her parent or other person responsible for his or her welfare:

  (i)  Inflicts, or allows to be inflicted, upon the child physical or mental injury, including excessive corporal punishment; or

  (ii)  Creates, or allows to be created, a substantial risk of physical or mental injury to the child, including excessive corporal punishment; or

  (iii)  Commits, or allows to be committed, against the child an act of sexual abuse; or

  (iv)  Fails to supply the child with adequate food, clothing, shelter, or medical care, though financially able to do so or offered financial or other reasonable means to do so; or

  (v)  Fails to provide the child with a minimum degree of care or proper supervision or guardianship because of his or her unwillingness or inability to do so by situations or conditions such as, but not limited to: social problems, mental incompetency, or the use of a drug, drugs, or alcohol to the extent that the parent or other person responsible for the child's welfare loses his or her ability or is unwilling to properly care for the child; or

  (vi)  Abandons or deserts the child; or

  (vii)  Sexually exploits the child in that the person allows, permits, or encourages the child to engage in prostitution as defined by the provisions in Rhode Island General Laws 40-11-2

• Allegation: something that someone says happened.
• Child: means a person under the age of eighteen (18). See Rhode Island General Laws 40-11-2
• Child protective investigator: means an employee of the department charged with responsibility for investigating complaints and referrals of child abuse and neglect and institutional child abuse and neglect. See Rhode Island General Laws 40-11-2
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• 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.
• Department: means department of children, youth and families. See Rhode Island General Laws 40-11-2
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Educational program: means any public or private school, including boarding schools, or any home-schooling program. See Rhode Island General Laws 40-11-2
• 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.
• 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.
• Healthcare provider: means any provider of healthcare services involved in the delivery or care of infants or care of children. See Rhode Island General Laws 40-11-2
• Hearsay: Statements by a witness who did not see or hear the incident in question but heard about it from someone else. Hearsay is usually not admissible as evidence in court.
• in writing: include printing, engraving, lithographing, and photo-lithographing, and all other representations of words in letters of the usual form. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-16
• Institution: means any private or public hospital or other facility providing medical or psychiatric diagnosis, treatment, and care. See Rhode Island General Laws 40-11-2
• Institutional child abuse and neglect: means situations of known or suspected child abuse or neglect where the person allegedly responsible for the abuse or neglect is a foster parent or the employee of a public or private residential childcare institution or agency; or any staff person providing out-of-home care or situations where the suspected abuse or neglect occurs as a result of the institution's practices, policies, or conditions. See Rhode Island General Laws 40-11-2
• 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.
• Law enforcement agency: means the police department in any city or town or the state police. See Rhode Island General Laws 40-11-2
• Mental injury: includes a state of substantially diminished psychological or intellectual functioning in relation to, but not limited to, such factors as: failure to thrive; ability to think or reason; control of aggressive or self-destructive impulses; acting-out or misbehavior, including incorrigibility, ungovernability, or habitual truancy; provided, however, that the injury must be clearly attributable to the unwillingness or inability of the parent or other person responsible for the child's welfare to exercise a minimum degree of care toward the child. See Rhode Island General Laws 40-11-2
• 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.
• Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
• oath: includes affirmation; the word "sworn" includes affirmed; and the word "engaged" includes either sworn or affirmed. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-11
• person: may be construed to extend to and include co-partnerships and bodies corporate and politic. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-6
• Physician: means any licensed doctor of medicine, licensed osteopathic physician, and any physician, intern, or resident of an institution as defined in subsection (8). See Rhode Island General Laws 40-11-2
• 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.
• Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
• Probable cause: means facts and circumstances based upon as accurate and reliable information as possible that would justify a reasonable person to suspect that a child is abused or neglected. See Rhode Island General Laws 40-11-2
• Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
• Public defender: Represent defendants who can't afford an attorney in criminal matters.
• 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.
• Shaken-baby syndrome: means a form of abusive head trauma, characterized by a constellation of symptoms caused by other than accidental traumatic injury resulting from the violent shaking of or impact upon an infant or young child's head. See Rhode Island General Laws 40-11-2
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• town: may be construed to include city; the words "town council" include city council; the words "town clerk" include city clerk; the words "ward clerk" include clerk of election district; the words "town treasurer" include city treasurer; and the words "town sergeant" include city sergeant. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-9
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• United States: include the several states and the territories of the United States. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-8