Mo. Rev. Stat. § 595.010

Current with changes from the 2024 Legislative Session

Section 595.010 - Definitions

1. As used in sections 595.010 to 595.075, unless the context requires otherwise, the following terms shall mean:

(1)"Child", a dependent, unmarried person who is under eighteen years of age and includes a posthumous child, stepchild, or an adopted child;

(2)"Claimant", a victim or a dependent, relative, survivor, or member of the family, of a victim eligible for compensation pursuant to sections 595.010 to 595.075;

(3)"Conservator", a person or corporation appointed by a court to have the care and custody of the estate of a minor or a disabled person, including a limited conservator;

(4)"Counseling", problem-solving and support concerning emotional issues that result from criminal victimization licensed pursuant to section 595.030. Counseling is a confidential service provided either on an individual basis or in a group. Counseling has as a primary purpose to enhance, protect and restore a person's sense of well-being and social functioning after victimization. Counseling does not include victim advocacy services such as crisis telephone counseling, attendance at medical procedures, law enforcement interviews or criminal justice proceedings;

(5)"Crime", an act committed in this state which, regardless of whether it is adjudicated, involves the application of force or violence or the threat of force or violence by the offender upon the victim but shall include the crime of driving while intoxicated, vehicular manslaughter and hit and run; and provided, further, that no act involving the operation of a motor vehicle except driving while intoxicated, vehicular manslaughter and hit and run which results in injury to another shall constitute a crime for the purpose of sections 595.010 to 595.075, unless such injury was intentionally inflicted through the use of a motor vehicle. A crime shall also include an act of terrorism, as defined in 18 U.S.C. Section 2331, which has been committed outside of the United States against a resident of Missouri;

(6)"Crisis intervention counseling", helping to reduce psychological trauma where victimization occurs;

(7)"Department", the department of public safety;

(8)"Dependent", mother, father, spouse, spouse's mother, spouse's father, child, grandchild, adopted child, illegitimate child, niece or nephew, who is wholly or partially dependent for support upon, and living with, but shall include children entitled to child support but not living with, the victim at the time of his injury or death due to a crime alleged in a claim pursuant to sections 595.010 to 595.075;

(9)"Direct service", providing physical services to a victim of crime including, but not limited to, transportation, funeral arrangements, child care, emergency food, clothing, shelter, notification and information;

(10)"Director", the director of public safety of this state or a person designated by him for the purposes of sections 595.010 to 595.075;

(11)"Disabled person", one who is unable by reason of any physical or mental condition to receive and evaluate information or to communicate decisions to such an extent that the person lacks ability to manage his financial resources, including a partially disabled person who lacks the ability, in part, to manage his financial resources;

(12)"Emergency service", those services provided to alleviate the immediate effects of the criminal act or offense, and may include cash grants of not more than one hundred dollars;

(13)"Earnings", net income or net wages;

(14)"Family", the spouse, parent, grandparent, stepmother, stepfather, child, grandchild, brother, sister, half brother, half sister, adopted children of parent, or spouse's parents;

(15)"Funeral expenses", the expenses of the funeral, burial, cremation or other chosen method of interment, including plot or tomb and other necessary incidents to the disposition of the remains;

(16)"Gainful employment", engaging on a regular and continuous basis, up to the date of the incident upon which the claim is based, in a lawful activity from which a person derives a livelihood;

(17)"Guardian", one appointed by a court to have the care and custody of the person of a minor or of an incapacitated person, including a limited guardian;

(18)"Hit and run", the crime of leaving the scene of a motor vehicle accident as defined in section 577.060;

(19)"Incapacitated person", one who is unable by reason of any physical or mental condition to receive and evaluate information or to communicate decisions to such an extent that he lacks capacity to meet essential requirements for food, clothing, shelter, safety or other care such that serious physical injury, illness, or disease is likely to occur, including a partially incapacitated person who lacks the capacity to meet, in part, such essential requirements;

(20)"Injured victim", a person:

(a) Killed or receiving a personal physical injury in this state as a result of another person's commission of or attempt to commit any crime;

(b) Killed or receiving a personal physical injury in this state while in a good faith attempt to assist a person against whom a crime is being perpetrated or attempted;

(c) Killed or receiving a personal physical injury in this state while assisting a law enforcement officer in the apprehension of a person who the officer has reason to believe has perpetrated or attempted a crime;

(21)"Law enforcement official", a sheriff and his regular deputies, municipal police officer or member of the Missouri state highway patrol and such other persons as may be designated by law as peace officers;

(22)"Offender", a person who commits a crime;

(23)"Personal injury", physical, emotional, or mental harm or trauma resulting from the crime upon which the claim is based;

(24)"Private agency", a not-for-profit corporation, in good standing in this state, which provides services to victims of crime and their dependents;

(25)"Public agency", a part of any local or state government organization which provides services to victims of crime;

(26)"Relative", the spouse of the victim or a person related to the victim within the third degree of consanguinity or affinity as calculated according to civil law;

(27)"Survivor", the spouse, parent, legal guardian, grandparent, sibling or child of the deceased victim of the victim's household at the time of the crime;

(28)"Victim", a person who suffers personal injury or death as a direct result of a crime, as defined in subdivision (5) of this subsection;

(29)"Victim advocacy", assisting the victim of a crime and his dependents to acquire services from existing community resources.

2. As used in sections 595.010 to 595.075, the term "alcohol-related traffic offense" means those offenses defined by sections 577.001, 577.010, and 577.012, and any county or municipal ordinance which prohibits operation of a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol.

§ 595.010, RSMo

Amended by 2018 Mo. Laws, HB 1355,s A, eff. 8/28/2018.

L. 1981 H.B. 41, et al. § 1, A.L. 1982 S.B. 497, A.L. 1984 H.B. 1226, A.L. 1985 H.B. 715, A.L. 1993 S.B. 19, A.L. 1994 H.B. 1677 merged with S.B. 554, A.L. 1997 S.B. 430, A.L. 2009S.B. 338