Assault, Battery and Crimes Against Persons (Essay Sample)

Assault, Battery, and Crimes Against Persons
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Assault, Battery and Crimes Against Persons
Based on the law and the rules that govern the preservation of human rights, ‘crimes against a person' is a broad category of criminal offenses that involve both harm and threats committed against an individual. Assault and battery can be classified as crimes, but they hold different weights of offense. It is common for the two activities to be confused or misinterpreted during judgment or case of self-defense. In one scenario, there is a threat of violence while the other carries out the actual act of threat. When defined based on their relationship, assault is an attempt to commit a battery. In most cases, a change in action is what brings about a variation in the categorization of each crime. In this case, the following is an analysis of the crimes and the lawsuit associated with each case.
The crime of Assault and the Crime of Battery
The primary difference between a battery and an assault charge is the threat of harm and the actual presence of injury. People charged with battery are associated with the real actions of damage while those with crimes of assaults are punished for posing a threat of harm to other individuals. Most of the assault case involves physical contact between the individuals through which the degree of harm is calculated (Friedman & Percival, 2017).
Additionally, the level of punishment for these crimes differs in that for aggregated assaults the consequences are lighter as compared to battery crimes. However, despite the charges being distinct, their set of penalties relate in that one can be jailed, or subjected to fines for either case. An example of a crime of battery is when a person (A) throws a stone with the intention of hitting individual (B), and the rock hits him. If the stone misses' person (B), it is a crime of assault. For this example, the assumption that individual B might have been unaware that the stone had been thrown is irrelevant in line with the definition of assault cases.
Legally a person can be found not guilty in either of the scenarios but civilly liable for compensation charges in case of damage. Civil suites formulate policies that revolve around monetary damages that are inapplicable during judgment. The elements of civil assaults require proof for factors such as intentional touching and application of force in an offensive manner which is contrary to the victim's consent (Fitzgerald & Graham, 2016). On the other hand, the elements of civil element prove factors such as intentional threat or attempt to cause injury to another person and the argument ability to induce the consequent action of harm.
Case Analysis
When reflecting on the scenario where a man attacks individual A while she is walking alone at night and drags her to an alley, the man's action can be considered as a crime of battery. The criminal elements required for most battery elements for jurisdictions is forceful touching without the victim's consent. For this case, the reason for justification is that the man strikes A and stripes off her clothes. In most cases, threats are difficult to prove when compared to physical injury. Then the reason why the action cannot be justified as an assault is that there is no fear or threat of harm because the attack is sudden and immediate.
The action can be changed from one scenario to the other through a fact pattern from criminal activity to a harmless action or vice versa. Reflecting on the case, we can argue that what if the man did not strike and the two individuals were in a relationship. The man could then surprise the woman and pull her to the alley for a hug or a non-harmful action. Therefore, when there are no acts of fighting back or striking the activity can be considered as consensual touching. Kissing or hugging the man back means that the situation is no longer a criminal activity. The civil aspects of intent, contact, and harm are excluded, and the attacker intends not to cause any damage. Repeat offenses also have different forms of treatment in that for majority nations, a second or third charge against a specific individual is treated as a felony.
False Imprisonment and Kidnapping
The crime of false imprisonment occurs when an individual who does not have legal authority restrains another person from personal movement. Various laws are used to govern against the confinement based on the action that has occurred, the power used and the nature of the bounding area. Some of the main exemptions of false imprisonment include false claims, the ability to free oneself from the bound, ad voluntary consent. At some point, false imprisonment is associated with violence especially when damage occurs. An example is when domestic violence occurs, and a man ties his wife to the bed for sometimes hence limiting her freedom of movement. Based on the change in question three, the court should not convict the attacker. The reason is that the man held the woman against her will.
The primary point of variation between kidnapping and false imprisonment is that in kidnapping, there is involvement of physical movement of the individual while using force or threats of force (Cornell & Limber, 2015). The action of movement separates the two crimes where kidnapping is mostly done for some nefarious reason. The punishment policies for the two activities also differ in that for false imprisonment there is the civil claim for compensation while kidnapping is punishable by a tribunal. There are fewer cases of harm in unlawful confinement hence making the punishment to be lighter. For most countries, the jail term is usually less than a year. However, kidnapping might require more evidence such as the means of movement and the area of bound. Legally, the action is charged either in the