The Vermont Statutes Online
The Statutes below include the actions of the 2024 session of the General Assembly.
NOTE: The Vermont Statutes Online is an unofficial copy of the Vermont Statutes Annotated that is provided as a convenience.
Title 13 : Crimes and Criminal Procedure
Chapter 072 : Sexual Assault
Subchapter 001 : CRIMES; TRIAL
(Cite as: 13 V.S.A. § 3251)-
§ 3251. Definitions
As used in this chapter:
(1) A “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.
(2) “Sexual conduct” means any conduct or behavior relating to sexual activities of the complaining witness, including but not limited to prior experience of sexual acts, use of contraceptives, living arrangement, and mode of living.
(3) “Consent” means the affirmative, unambiguous, and voluntary agreement to engage in a sexual act, which can be revoked at any time.
(4) “Serious bodily injury” shall have the same meaning as in subdivision 1021(2) of this title.
(5) “Bodily injury” means physical pain, illness, or any impairment of physical condition.
(6) “Actor” means a person charged with sexual assault or aggravated sexual assault.
(7) “Deadly force” means physical force that a person uses with the intent of causing, or that the person knows or should have known would create a substantial risk of causing, death or serious bodily injury.
(8) “Deadly weapon” means:
(A) any firearm; or
(B) any weapon, device, instrument, material, or substance, whether animate or inanimate, which in the manner it is used or is intended to be used, is known to be capable of producing death or serious bodily injury.
(9) “Law enforcement officer” means a person certified as a law enforcement officer under the provisions of 20 V.S.A. chapter 151.
(10) “Incapable of consenting” means the person:
(A) is incapable of understanding the nature of the conduct at issue;
(B) is physically incapable of resisting, declining participation in, or communicating unwillingness to engage in the conduct at issue; or
(C) lacks the mental ability to make or communicate a decision about whether to engage in the conduct at issue. (Added 1977, No. 51, § 1; amended 1985, No. 83, § 1; 1989, No. 293 (Adj. Sess.), § 4; 2005, No. 192 (Adj. Sess.), § 10; 2019, No. 8, § 1, eff. April 23, 2019; 2021, No. 68, § 1.)
