Vermont Statutes Title 13. Crimes and Criminal Procedure, § 8002. Definitions

(1) “Collateral consequence” means a mandatory sanction or a discretionary disqualification.

(2) “Conviction” includes an adjudication for delinquency for purposes of this chapter only, unless otherwise specified.  “Convicted” has a corresponding meaning.

(3) “Court” means the Criminal Division of the Superior Court.

(4) “Decision-maker” means the State acting through a department, agency, officer, or instrumentality, including a political subdivision, educational institution, board, or commission, or its employees or a government contractor, including a subcontractor, made subject to this chapter by contract, by law other than this chapter, or by ordinance.

(5) “Discretionary disqualification” means a penalty, disability, or disadvantage that an administrative agency, governmental official, or court in a civil proceeding is authorized, but not required, to impose on an individual on grounds relating to the individual's conviction of an offense.  Discretionary disqualifications do not encompass charging decisions, such as the imposition of pre-charge diversion or intervention programs.

(6) “Mandatory sanction” means a penalty, disability, or disadvantage imposed on an individual as a result of the individual's conviction of an offense which applies by operation of law whether or not the penalty, disability, or disadvantage is included in the judgment or sentence.  The term does not include imprisonment, probation, parole, supervised release, forfeiture, restitution, fine, assessment, or costs of prosecution.

(7) “Offense” means a felony, misdemeanor, or delinquent act under the laws of this State, another state, or the United States.

(8) “Incarceration” means confinement in jail or prison.

(9) “State” means a state of the U.S., 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.