Personal Crimes Analysis (Research Paper Sample)

Personal Crimes
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Personal Crimes
Personal crimes are crimes that are committed against a person or people. The person targeted by these crimes is usually affected in a personal way. These crimes are numerous and can include crimes such as homicide, battery, assault, statutory rape, mayhem and rape. They vary in their intensity and confer some harmful effects on the victim. This essay will endeavor to identify, describe, and distinguish the various kinds of personal crimes that exist. By the end of this essay a well thought out analysis matrix concerning personal crimes will have been formulated.
Assault, Battery, and Mayhem
Assault can be defined as a threat of bodily harm in which the person issuing the threat can actually inflict the harm. This considered as both a criminal and civil crime that is punishable by law. Assault is considered to have occurred when there is a reasonable proof that the victim targeted by the threat is actually in danger. Though words alone can not be used as grounds to file an assault case, the words uttered by the accused can be connected to his or her actions and used against him in a court of law (Maguire et al., 2012). For instance, a victim who is verbally threatened of violence with an accused person whose fist is raised and ready to strike can use this as a ground to bring an assault case against the accused.
On the other hand, battery denotes an intentional physical contact between the victim and the accused. Battery is considered to have occurred when it is proved that the accused person’s contact with the victim was aimed at inflicting bodily injury or pain to the victim. This crime is similar to the assault in the sense that it is both a criminal and civil crime that can be adjudged in the court of law. However, the two crimes differ in the sense that for battery physical contact must have occurred between the two parties while for assault there is no need for physical contract. Domestic violence is a good example of battery and occurs when one of the couples inflicts bodily harm on the other.
Mayhem is the third type of personal crimes that differs sharply from the previous two crimes. Mayhem is treated as a serious crime because it entails the actual maiming of the victim. The victim suffers from severe bodily harm; therefore the punishment of the offender by the court is quite severe (Maguire et al., 2012). Victims of this personal crime will be left with deep rooted scars or some might even be lacking a limb or two. This crime is considered serious and is variously punished depending on the jurisdiction of the courts.
Kidnapping and False Imprisonment
Kidnapping is a personal crime that is said to have occurred when an abductor physically moves the victim from one place to another without the victims' consent. The abductor is often seen to have some nefarious aim which inspires him to kidnap the victim (Orthmann et al., 2013). Some reasons for the perpetuation of this crime may include ransom, revenge or some other motives. The crime of kidnapping is categorized as either first or second degree, and both are punishable by law.
Contrastingly, false imprisonment is a civil crime that gives rise to a claim for damages. False imprisonment is said to have occurred when the accused illegally confines the victim and restricts the victim’s movement. Compared to kidnapping, false imprisonment is often taken to be inoffensive and in most cases does not lead to actual harm on the person of the victim (Orthmann et al., 2013). The law has categorized false imprisonment as a misdemeanor punishable by a jail term of less than one year. In addition, the person alleging this crime can further sue for nominal or punitive damages to compensate him for the interference with his freedom to move from place to place during the period he was under the control of the accused person.
Rape and Statutory Rape
Rape is a personal crime that is defined as forced sexual contact and can occur to either gender of any age. This crime is sometimes referred to as sexual assault. The motive behind this crime is not to have sex but rather to have dominion over the victim. In this crime, the perpetrator, who is commonly termed as a rapist, threatens to use violence or uses actual violence to subdue the victim and uses the victim sexually (Siegel, & Worrall, 2013). Strange as it is, this crime is often perpetrated by a person familiar to the victim. Rape as a crime is highly traumatizing particularly to the female victims. This physical and violent crime leaves the victim emotionally damaged.
On the other hand, statutory rape is considered to have occurred when an adult or a teen has sex...