The Florida Senate

916.106  Definitions.--For the purposes of this chapter:

(1)  "Chemical weapon" means any shell, cartridge, bomb, gun, or other device capable of emitting chloroacetophenone (CN), chlorobenzalmalononitrile (CS) or any derivatives thereof in any form, or any other agent with lacrimatory properties, and shall include products such as that commonly known as "mace."

(2)  "Court" means the circuit court.

(3)  "Department" means the ¹Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services.

(4)  "Forensic client" or "patient" means any mentally retarded or mentally ill person who is committed to the department and:

(a)  Who has been determined to need treatment for a mental illness or mental retardation;

(b)  Who has been found incompetent to stand trial or incompetent for sentencing, has been acquitted of a criminal offense by reason of insanity, has criminal charges pending, or has been found guilty of a criminal offense but is not an inmate of the Department of Corrections or any other correctional facility; and

(c)  Who has been determined by the department to:

1.  Be dangerous to himself or herself or others; or

2.  Present a clear and present potential to escape.

(5)  "Forensic facility" means a separate and secure facility established within the department for the treatment of forensic clients. Such separate and secure facilities shall be security-grade buildings located on grounds distinct in location from other treatment facilities for persons who are mentally ill. The Florida State Hospital shall not be required to maintain separate treatment facilities for mentally ill or mentally retarded persons found incompetent for trial or acquitted of a criminal offense by reason of insanity.

(6)  "Institutional security personnel" means staff members who meet or exceed the requirements of s. 943.13 and who are responsible for providing security, for protection of clients and personnel, for the enforcement of rules, for prevention and investigation of unauthorized activities, and for safeguarding the interests of citizens in the surrounding communities.

(7)  "Mentally ill" means having an impairment of the emotional processes, of the ability to exercise conscious control of one's actions, or of the ability to perceive reality or to understand, which impairment substantially interferes with a person's ability to meet the ordinary demands of living, regardless of etiology; except that, for the purposes of this chapter, the term does not include simple intoxication, persons who are solely mentally retarded, or conditions manifested only by antisocial behavior or drug addiction.

(8)  "Mental retardation" means significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior and manifested during the period from conception to age 18. "Significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning," for the purpose of this definition, means performance which is two or more standard deviations from the mean score on a standardized intelligence test specified in the rules of the department. "Adaptive behavior," for the purpose of this definition, means the effectiveness or degree with which an individual meets the standards of personal independence and social responsibility expected of the individual's age, cultural group, and community.

History.--s. 31, ch. 85-167; s. 1527, ch. 97-102.

¹Note.--The Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services was redesignated as the Department of Children and Family Services by s. 5, ch. 96-403, and the Department of Health was created by s. 8, ch. 96-403.