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Legal Information: Tennessee
Laws current as of June 21, 2024 What is the legal definition of abuse and aggravated abuse?
Abuse is defined as when someone causes “physical harm” to you. The law defines physical harm as an act that causes you pain or injury or that would cause a reasonable person to suffer pain or injury.1 When someone causes serious physical, bodily, or psychological injury to you, including with a deadly weapon or strangulation, it is known as aggravated abuse.2
1 Tenn. Code §§ 39-15-501(2), (9); 39-15-510
2 Tenn. Code § 39-15-511
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