Wis. Stat. § 939.22 — WI Code / Chapter 939 / Section 939.22
Words and phrases defined.
Status: in_force

In chs. 939 to 948 and 951 , the following words and phrases have the designated meanings unless the context of a specific section manifestly requires a different construction or the word or phrase is defined in s. 948.01 for purposes of ch. 948 :

(2) “Airgun” means a weapon which expels a missile by the expansion of compressed air or other gas.

(3) “Alcohol concentration” has the meaning given in s. 340.01 (1v) .

(4) “Bodily harm” means physical pain or injury, illness, or any impairment of physical condition.

(5) “Commission warden” means a conservation warden employed by the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission.

(6) “Crime” has the meaning designated in s. 939.12 .

(9) “Criminal gang” means an ongoing organization, association or group of 3 or more persons, whether formal or informal, that has as one of its primary activities the commission of one or more of the criminal acts, or acts that would be criminal if the actor were an adult, specified in sub. (21) (a) to (s) ; that has a common name or a common identifying sign or symbol; and whose members individually or collectively engage in or have engaged in a pattern of criminal gang activity.

(9g) “Criminal gang member” means any person who participates in criminal gang activity, as defined in s. 941.38 (1) (b) , with a criminal gang.

(9r) “Criminal intent” has the meaning designated in s. 939.23 .

(10) “Dangerous weapon” means any firearm, whether loaded or unloaded; any device designed as a weapon and capable of producing death or great bodily harm; any ligature or other instrumentality used on the throat, neck, nose, or mouth of another person to impede, partially or completely, breathing or circulation of blood; any electric weapon, as defined in s. 941.295 (1c) (a) ; or any other device or instrumentality which, in the manner it is used or intended to be used, is calculated or likely to produce death or great bodily harm.

(11) “Drug” has the meaning specified in s. 450.01 (10) .

(12) “Felony” has the meaning designated in s. 939.60 .

(14) “Great bodily harm” means bodily injury which creates a substantial risk of death, or which causes serious permanent disfigurement, or which causes a permanent or protracted loss or impairment of the function of any bodily member or organ or other serious bodily injury.

(15) “Hazardous inhalant” means a substance that is ingested, inhaled, or otherwise introduced into the human body in a manner that does not comply with any cautionary labeling that is required for the substance under s. 100.37 or under federal law, or in a manner that is not intended by the manufacturer of the substance, and that is intended to induce intoxication or elation, to stupefy the central nervous system, or to change the human audio, visual, or mental processes.

(16) “Human being” when used in the homicide sections means one who has been born alive.

(18) “Intentionally” has the meaning designated in s. 939.23 .

(19) “Intimate parts” means the breast, buttock, anus, groin, scrotum, penis, vagina or pubic mound of a human being.

(20) “Misdemeanor” has the meaning designated in s. 939.60 .

(20d) “Offense against an elderly or vulnerable person” means a violation of s. 940.285 (2) (a) that caused death, great bodily harm, or bodily harm to the victim or s. 940.295 (3) (b) that caused death, great bodily harm, or bodily harm to the victim.

(21) “Pattern of criminal gang activity” means the commission of, attempt to commit or solicitation to commit 2 or more of the following crimes, or acts that would be crimes if the actor were an adult, at least one of those acts or crimes occurs after December 25, 1993, the last of those acts or crimes occurred within 3 years after a prior act or crime, and the acts or crimes are committed, attempted or solicited on separate occasions or by 2 or more persons:

(a) Manufacture, distribution or delivery of a controlled substance or controlled substance analog, as prohibited in s. 961.41 (1) .

(b) First-degree intentional homicide, as prohibited in s. 940.01 .

(c) Second-degree intentional homicide, as prohibited in s. 940.05 .

(d) Battery, as prohibited in s. 940.60 or 940.65 or s. 940.19 , 2023 stats., or s. 940.195 , 2023 stats.

(e) Battery by certain persons, as prohibited in s. 940.61 or s. 940.20 , 2023 stats.; or battery to certain persons, as prohibited in s. 940.62 , s. 940.20 , 2023 stats., or s. 940.201 , 2023 stats.; or threatening to cause bodily harm as prohibited in s. 947.016 (1) or (2) .

(f) Mayhem, as prohibited in s. 940.21 .

(g) Sexual assault, as prohibited in s. 940.225 .

(h) False imprisonment, as prohibited in s. 940.30 .

(i) Taking hostages, as prohibited in s. 940.305 .

(j) Kidnapping, as prohibited in s. 940.31 .

(k) Intimidation of witnesses, as prohibited in s. 940.42 or 940.43 .

(L) Intimidation of victims, as prohibited in s. 940.44 or 940.45 .

(m) Criminal damage to property, as prohibited in s. 943.01 .

(mg) Criminal damage to or threat to criminally damage the property of a witness, as prohibited in s. 943.011 or 943.017 (2m) .

(n) Arson of buildings or damage by explosives, as prohibited in s. 943.02 .

(o) Burglary, as prohibited in s. 943.10 .

(p) Theft, as prohibited in s. 943.20 .

(q) Taking, driving or operating a vehicle, or removing a part or component of a vehicle, without the owner’s consent, as prohibited in s. 943.23 .

(qm) Carjacking, as prohibited in s. 943.231 .

(r) Robbery, as prohibited in s. 943.32 .

(s) Sexual assault of a child, as prohibited in s. 948.02 .

(t) Repeated acts of sexual assault of the same child, as prohibited in s. 948.025 .

(u) Sexual assault of a child placed in substitute care under s. 948.085 .

(22) “Peace officer” means any person vested by law with a duty to maintain public order or to make arrests for crime, whether that duty extends to all crimes or is limited to specific crimes. “Peace officer” includes a commission warden and a university police officer, as defined in s. 175.42 (1) (b) .

(23) “Petechia” means a minute colored spot that appears on the skin, eye, eyelid, or mucous membrane of a person as a result of localized hemorrhage or rupture to a blood vessel or capillary.

(24) “Place of prostitution” means any place where a person habitually engages, in public or in private, in nonmarital acts of sexual intercourse, sexual gratification involving the sex organ of one person and the mouth or anus of another, masturbation or sexual contact for anything of value.

(28) “Property of another” means property in which a person other than the actor has a legal interest which the actor has no right to defeat or impair, even though the actor may also have a legal interest in the property.

(30) “Public officer”; “public employee”. A “public officer” is any person appointed or elected according to law to discharge a public duty for the state or one of its subordinate governmental units. A “public employee” is any person, not an officer, who performs any official function on behalf of the state or one of its subordinate governmental units and who is paid from the public treasury of the state or subordinate governmental unit.

(32) “Reasonably believes” means that the actor believes that a certain fact situation exists and such belief under the circumstances is reasonable even though erroneous.

(33) “Restricted controlled substance” means any of the following:

(a) A controlled substance included in schedule I under ch. 961 other than a tetrahydrocannabinol.

(b) A controlled substance analog, as defined in s. 961.01 (4m) , of a controlled substance described in par. (a) .

(c) Cocaine or any of its metabolites.

(d) Methamphetamine.

(e) Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, excluding its precursors or metabolites, at a concentration of one or more nanograms per milliliter of a person’s blood.

(34) “Sexual contact” means any of the following if done for the purpose of sexual humiliation, degradation, arousal, or gratification:

(a) The intentional touching by the defendant or, upon the defendant’s instruction, by a third person of the clothed or unclothed intimate parts of another person with any part of the body, clothed or unclothed, or with any object or device.

(b) The intentional touching by the defendant or, upon the defendant’s instruction, by a third person of any part of the body, clothed or unclothed, of another person with the intimate parts of the body, clothed or unclothed.

(c) The intentional penile ejaculation of ejaculate or the intentional emission of urine or feces by the defendant or, upon the defendant’s instruction, by a third person upon any part of the body, clothed or unclothed, of another person.

(d) Intentionally causing another person to ejaculate or emit urine or feces on any part of the actor’s body, whether clothed or unclothed.