Washington statute
RCW 7.69.020 — Definitions
Current through 2026 Regular Session
Part of Chapter 7.69: Crime Victims, Survivors, And Witnesses, Revised Code of Washington.
Full text of RCW 7.69.020
Statutory text current through the 2026 Regular Session. This publication reproduces the official text of the Revised Code of Washington from the Code Reviser's published files; it is not the official statutes of the State of Washington.
Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, the definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter.
(1) "Crime" means an act punishable as a felony, gross misdemeanor, or misdemeanor under the laws of this state or equivalent federal or local law.
(2) "Survivor" or "survivors" of a victim of crime means a spouse or domestic partner, child, parent, legal guardian, sibling, or grandparent. If there is more than one survivor of a victim of crime, one survivor shall be designated by the prosecutor to represent all survivors for purposes of providing the notice to survivors required by this chapter.
(3) "Victim" means a person against whom a crime has been committed or the representative of a person against whom a crime has been committed.
(4) "Victim impact statement" means a statement submitted to the court by the victim or a survivor, individually or with the assistance of the prosecuting attorney if assistance is requested by the victim or survivor, which may include but is not limited to information assessing the financial, medical, social, and psychological impact of the offense upon the victim or survivors.
(5) "Witness" means a person who has been or is expected to be summoned to testify for the prosecution in a criminal action, or who by reason of having relevant information is subject to call or likely to be called as a witness for the prosecution, whether or not an action or proceeding has been commenced.
(6) "Crime victim/witness program" means any crime victim and witness program of a county or local law enforcement agency or prosecutor's office, any rape crisis center's sexual assault victim advocacy program as provided in chapter 70.125 RCW, any domestic violence program's legal and community advocate program for domestic violence victims as provided in chapter 70.123 RCW, or any other crime victim advocacy program which provides trained advocates to assist crime victims during the investigation and prosecution of the crime.
Official sources
Legal terms used in this section
This reference is informational and is not legal advice.