Читать книгу Criminology For Dummies - Steven Briggs - Страница 92

Although the words assault and battery are often used interchangeably, in many states, they mean two different things:

 Battery: This crime requires actual physical contact that is offensive in some way.

 Assault: This crime typically refers to just a threat of battery, or an attempted battery, without actual physical contact. However, in states that don’t use the word “battery,” an assault may mean actual physical contact that’s offensive or causes injury. In other words, in those states, assault is the same thing as battery.

For example, if you pull out a gun and tell someone you’re going to shoot him, you’re committing an assault (among other offenses). If you actually shoot the person without killing him, you’re committing a battery.

The seriousness of these types of crimes and the sentences they warrant in court generally depend on whether a weapon is used and on how severe the harm caused is. Here are two key distinctions:

 Simple assault or battery refers to conduct that results in low-level physical injury, not serious injury. It’s typically punished as a misdemeanor with only a little jail time.

 Aggravated assault or battery refers to serious felony conduct that involves the use of a dangerous or deadly weapon or that results in serious injury. Aggravated assault or battery may result in a lengthy prison sentence of one to ten years (or even more, depending on the circumstances).

The types of conduct that can result in a criminal charge of battery (or assault) are almost limitless, but here are a few examples:

 Punching or slapping

 Stabbing

 Shooting

 Using any object as a weapon to cause an injury

 Crashing a vehicle

I once prosecuted someone who repeatedly kicked another person using steel-toed boots. I charged the defendant with battery with a “dangerous weapon,” a charge that resulted in a longer sentence than the defendant would’ve received for wearing slippers (for which he would only get a simple battery charge).

In the following sections, I discuss the major crimes involving assault and battery.