Criminal Law Chapter 9: Crimes Against Persons

Battery

Unlawful force that causes touching of another person against their will. Battery is completed assault. Assault is attempted battery

• “Touching” in this context refers to any physical contact that directly or indirectly causes bodily injury to the victim

Elements of battery include: 

• Actor touches or applies force to the victim

• Actor intends to injure

• Harm is done to the victim

Aggravated Battery

Battery, but it comes with the intent to kill or rape

Assault

It has two definitions:

1. Attempted battery: Any behavior that threatens physical harm

2. Intentional frightening of another person: Victim must reasonably fear immediate personal harm

Assault can be committed without actaully touching, striking, or doing bodily harm to the person of another

Mayhem

Assault with intent to maim (cause permanent damage to)

• Actus reus requirement of mayhem includes dismemberment, disablement, disfigurement

Robbery

A crime where one takes property by the use of force or fear. Elements of robbery include: 

• Taking of property without consent

• Taking from the person or in their immediate presence

• Intent to deprive the owner

• Using force/ fear

Larceny vs Robbery vs Burglary

These are all theft related crimes, but they are different:

• Larceny: Taking property without force

• Robbery: Taking property with force

• Burglary: Unlawful entry into a building with intent to commit a crime

Armed Robbery

Robbery that is accomplished with a dangerous or deadly weapon

Rape

Nonconsensual sex with the actor and a victim under one of the following circumstances:

• Forcibly

• Deception

• While victim is unconscious

• Circumstance when victim is not in the right mental state (eg: drunk, mental disability, too young)

Statutory Rape

Sex with someone under the age of consent automatically equates as this type of rape

Spousal Rape

The common law did not initially consider forced sex in a marriage rape until then.

Rape Trauma Syndrome

A condition observed in rape victims. Immediately after the attack, the victim would be calm, but over time they will gain symptoms like fatigue, headaches, and sleeplessness. This is can explain behaviors of rape victims based on this syndrome to help juries understand their behavior

Child Molestation

Adult engages in sexual conduct with a child including: 

• Exposing genitals to child

• Having a child touch the perpetrator’s genitals

• Removing the child’s clothing

• Taking nude pictures of a child

• Having a child touch the perpetrator or another child in an inappropriate fashion

Often Child Molestation Goes Unnoticed Because….

The children don’t tell anyone about the abuse because of:

• Desire to protect the molester (usually a family member or close family friend)

• Feeling they were at fault especially if they were taught to look up to the molester

• Fear of punishment

• Difficulty verbally expressing what happened

Criminal Abortion

Artificially induced termination of pregnancy with the intent of destroying an embryo or fetus. This is different from legal abortion

Child Abuse: Neglect

Neglecting a child can take various forms such as:

• Denying a child proper nutrition

• Failing to enroll a child at school

• Leaving a young child alone

• Residing with a child in an unsanitary home

Child Abuse: Physical Abuse

Involves hitting, striking, or beating a child by indirect or direct force. Sometimes it may be hard to distinguish between child abuse vs punishment.

To determine whether the action is excessive, a social worker will consider these criteria:

• Permanent injuries

• Amount of physical force used

• How often the child is spanked

• Age of child when incident occurs

Battered Child Syndrome

A clinical condition suffered by young children who suffered from prolonged serious physical abuse, leaving them with trauma and injuries

Elder Abuse

It happens when elders are neglected by their caretakers, especially when the elders are incapacitated and require the assistance of another person for basic living

False Imprisonment

Knowing and unlawfully restraining someone. Elements of this crime include:

1. Act of restraining a person to interfere with their freedom

2. Specific intent to restrain that person

Kidnapping

Kidnapping involves forcible movement of a person to another or confining the victim secretly. This is different from false imprisonment in that there is movement

Megan’s Law

A law that requires community notification by the authorities if a convicted sex offender is released from prison and moves into that community

Shopkeeper’s Rule

An exception to the false imprisonment law that gives a shopkeeper a right to restrain a person if the shop keeper possesses a reasonable belief that the customer has not paid a bill or shoplifted an item