Assault and battery

SIGNIFICANCE: Assault and battery are the most common violent crimes in the United States. In criminal law, assault and battery represent two separate actions that are more often referred to simply as assault. This general term includes simple and aggravated assault, and can refer to offenses that are either attempted or completed.

Assault and battery are generally used to refer to both threats and the actual inflicting of physical harm on other persons. The term “assault” applies to the act of threatening or intimidating others, while the term “battery” applies to actual physical harm, through punches, kicks, beatings, stabbings, or other contacts that are delivered with the intent of causing harm or death to the victims. Assaults are unlawful offers of violence against others, with the reasonable capability to carry out the acts. Battery is the actual and intentional infliction of the violence resulting in injury—regardless of the seriousness of the injury. “Assault and battery” therefore refers to the coupling of these two offenses: the threat and the delivery of unlawful force.

The federal criminal justice system and many state systems use the general term "assault" to refer to both the unlawful offer or threat of harm and the actual delivery of illegal force against the victim. From the criminal law standpoint, then, no actual physical attack needs to occur for a charge of assault to be brought against a person.

Assaults may be simple or aggravated, depending upon the level of violence and other factors. Simple assault, as defined by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Uniform Crime Reports (UCR), refers to offenses in which no weapons are used and the victims’ sustained injuries are comparatively minor. Examples of assault under this definition include slapping and punching in which no serious injury is sustained by the victims, or shaking one’s fist at another person and placing that person in fear of being hurt.

Aggravated assault, according to the UCR, is characterized by the intentional attempted, threatened, or delivered infliction of serious harm upon another person. In addition, other federal reporting systems specify that the use of a dangerous weapon in an assault is sufficient to characterize an offense as aggravated, regardless of whether a victim sustains an injury. Therefore, the mere act of threatening a person with a gun constitutes aggravated assault.

Unarmed attacks in which a victim sustains severe bodily injuries, such as broken bones or teeth or loss of consciousness, may also be categorized as aggravated assault. In addition, some states have declared that all assaults against persons of specified status, such as police or corrections officers, are to be considered aggravated, even if such attacks would otherwise be considered simple assaults.

In both types of assault, victims need not be placed in actual peril for offenses to be committed. The key issue is whether the victims have a reasonable fear of being injured. Under this principle, pointing a toy gun that appears to be real at someone is aggravated assault, even though the victim is never in actual danger.

History

Statutes against unwarranted violence have existed in human societies as long as there has been written law. Recorded laws dating back earlier than 2000 B.C.E., such as the code of the Babylonian king Hammurabi , set limits on human actions and asserted the principle that the strong shall not injure the weak. Ancient Roman law described assault and other acts that modern societies would regard as criminal offenses as instead civil “wrongs,” or torts, and offenses were resolved by payments of monetary compensation to victims’ families.

In early medieval England, self-governing tribes enforced their own laws and punishments for criminal activities, but in the twelfth century, crimes of violence were declared to be against the king’s peace and became punishable by the state.

While this principle of the state assuming responsibility for the protection of its citizens against crimes of violence still exists today, it has only been fairly recently that some types of assault have been recognized as crimes and have been subject to punishment. For example, although rape has long been recognized as a crime, in early history, the law ignored rape victims who lacked social status and tended to treat the husbands and fathers of female rape victims as the true victims of the crime.

Similarly, acts that should have been prosecuted as criminal assaults committed against slaves in pre–Civil War America were ignored. The victims were considered to be the property of their masters and therefore received negligible legal protection. The extent to which assault laws have protected people has thus varied over time.

Prevalence

The prevalence of assaults in the modern United States is difficult to estimate because of how many unreported offenses occur, especially sexual and domestic assaults. However, studies have indicated that aggravated assault and simple assault rates have been declining. According to the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), 3 million simple assaults occurred in 2020, down from 3.8 million in 2019; In 2022, 23.5 per 1,000 people were victims of aggravated assault.

Although the prevalence of assault and battery crimes appears to be declining in the early twenty-first century, protection of people from interpersonal violence remains a fundamental responsibility of the criminal justice system, especially when addressing emerging issues of social concern, such as intimate partner violence and sexual assault.

Investigation

The effective investigation, prosecution and punishment of assault and battery hinge upon establishment of the elements of the crime by investigators and upon the ability of prosecutors to demonstrate those elements in courts of law. Punishments can range from fines or probation for some types of simple assault to several years in prison for aggravated assault.

In general, simple assaults refer to unlawful threatening behavior or to physical attacks that result in minor injuries, such as cuts and bruises. An important element of this crime in cases in which no actual physical attack occurs is that victims are placed in reasonable fear of being injured. Aggravated assault can be charged when offenders unlawfully use dangerous weapons, such as guns, to threaten or actually harm victims, or when victims sustain severe injuries, such as broken bones or teeth, deep lacerations, internal bleeding, maiming or other serious harm.

Investigating assault requires careful documentation by law-enforcement officers to establish the elements of the crime. In general, when no physical attacks occur, prosecutors must prove that the victims have been placed in reasonable fear for their safety and that the offenders unlawfully and intentionally offered threats.

In cases involving physical attacks, there must be careful recording of all evidence that establishes intent and injury. For example, investigators photograph victims to record all sustained injuries and counsel the victim to seek medical treatment so that medical records documenting the extent of the injuries can be obtained. Suspects should also be photographed in order to record any injuries on the knuckles, hands, elbows, or any other body parts that may demonstrate that those parts were used in attacks. Investigators should also take detailed statements from the victims, witnesses, and suspects (if the Fifth Amendment is not invoked) that may provide evidence of the offenders’ threatening language and actions so that intent can be established.

When victims resist their attackers, physical evidence that may help establishing the suspects’ identities may be collected from under the victims’ fingernails, from blood spatters at the scene, from the victims’ clothing, from bite marks on the victims, and from hair and fiber analysis. When weapons are used, every attempt must be made to locate them and subject them to analysis for fingerprints, DNA, and other trace evidence.

Victims of sexual assault should always be counseled not to bathe, shower, douche, or discard any items of clothing until after investigators have inspected them for possible evidence. Rape victims should be urged to seek medical attention and to have rape examinations performed. Officers investigating assault cases should canvass the scenes for witnesses and record any evidence of intent and action.

Prosecuting Assault and Battery Cases

Successful prosecution of assault depends on how thoroughly the elements of assault are established by law enforcement. In cases involving attempted assault, prosecutors have to establish that the victims have been put in fear for their physical safety. That can usually be established by witness and victim statements, among other evidence. It does not matter whether the threats are real or not; it is only the reasonableness of the victims’ fear that matters. For example, if an offender points a realistic toy gun at the victim, then aggravated assault can be established, even if the offender cannot carry out the threat.

Prosecutors must also establish intent. For example, if a defendant has harmed another person by accidentally tripping and colliding with someone who then banged his head into a wall, then no assault has been committed, despite the victim’s injury. Intent to threaten or harm is a key element in prosecuting assault cases.

Prosecutors make important decisions in deciding whether to charge offenders with simple or aggravated assault. This is sometimes a clear choice due to the nature of the injuries sustained by the victims or due to the use or nonuse of deadly weapons. However, the decision can also be difficult when it requires determining the degree of injuries. Prosecutors rely on medical documentation in making decisions of that nature.

Punishment

Depending upon the severity of the assault, sentences can range from fines to probation to several years in prison. There has been some recent controversy about the levels of punishment that are most appropriate for violent assaults. Some recent legislation has proposed stiffer sentences for aggravated assaults that result in permanent disfigurement or disability in victims. Federal assault guidelines provide for tougher penalties in cases in which the assaults involve more than minimal planning, when life-threatening or permanent bodily injuries occur, when deadly weapons are involved, when firearms are discharged, and other aggravating circumstances.

Bibliography

"Aggravated Assault." Crime in the United States 2009. Federal Bureau of Investigation, Sept. 2010. Web. 9 Dec. 2015.

Ammerman, Robert T., and Michel Hersen, eds. Case Studies in Family Violence. 2nd ed. New York: Plenum, 2000. Print.

Brewer, James D. The Danger from Strangers: Confronting the Threat of Assault. New York: Insight, 1994. Print.

Dalton, Clare, and Elizabeth M. Schneider. Battered Women and the Law. New York: Foundation, 2001. Print.

Harries, Keith D. Serious Violence: Patterns of Homicide and Assault in America. 2nd ed. Springfield: Thomas, 1997. Print.

Strom, Samuel. "Assault and Battery Overview." FindLaw, 25 Nov. 2023, www.findlaw.com/criminal/criminal-charges/assault-and-battery-overview.html. Accessed 20 June 2024.

Thompson, Alexandra and Susannah N. Tapp. "Criminal Victimization, 2022." Bureau of Labor Statistics, Sept. 2023, bjs.ojp.gov/library/publications/criminal-victimization-2022. Accessed 20 June 2024.