Terms Used In Vermont Statutes > Title 13 > Chapter 28 - Abuse, Neglect, and Exploitation of Vulnerable Adults

• Bodily injury: means physical pain, illness, or any impairment of physical condition. See
• Caregiver: means :

• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• 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.
• Domestic: when applied to a corporation, company, association, or copartnership shall mean organized under the laws of this State; "foreign" when so applied, shall mean organized under the laws of another state, government, or country. See
• 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.
• Fees: shall mean earnings due for official services, aside from salaries or per diem compensation. See
• following: when used by way of reference to a section of the law shall mean the next preceding or following section. See
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• 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.
• Lewd and lascivious conduct: means any lewd or lascivious act upon or with the body, or any part or member thereof, of a vulnerable adult, with the intent of arousing, appealing to, or gratifying the lust, passions, or sexual desires of the person or the vulnerable adult. See
• Municipality: shall include a city, town, town school district, incorporated school or fire district or incorporated village, and all other governmental incorporated units. See
• Neglect: means intentional or reckless failure or omission by a caregiver to:

• Person: shall include any natural person, corporation, municipality, the State of Vermont or any department, agency, or subdivision of the State, and any partnership, unincorporated association, or other legal entity. See
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• road: shall include bridges thereon and their approaches. See
• Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
• Sexual act: means conduct between persons consisting of contact between the penis and the vulva, the penis and the anus, the mouth and the penis, the mouth and the vulva, or any intrusion, however slight, by any part of a person's body or any object into the genital or anal opening of another. See
• Sexual activity: means a sexual act, other than appropriate health care or personal hygiene, or lewd and lascivious conduct. See
• State: when applied to the different parts of the United States may apply to the District of Columbia and any territory and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. See
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Town: shall include city and wards or precincts therein; "selectboard members" and "board of civil authority" shall extend to and include the mayor and aldermen of cities; "trustees" shall extend to and include bailiffs of incorporated villages; and the laws applicable to the inhabitants and officers of towns shall be applicable to the inhabitants and similar officers of all municipal corporations. See
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Village: shall mean an incorporated village. See
• Vulnerable adult: means any person 18 years of age or older who: