Battery (crime)
Encyclopedia : B : BA : BAT : Battery (crime)
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| Criminal law |
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| Part of the common law series |
| Elements of crimes |
| Actus reus · Causation (law)>Causation · Concurrence |
| Mens rea · Intention (criminal)>Intention (general) |
| Intention in English law · Recklessness (criminal)>Recklessness |
| Willful blindness · Criminal negligence |
| Ignorantia juris non excusat |
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| Classes of crimes |
| Felony/Indictable offence>Indictable · Hybrid offence |
| Misdemeanor/Summary offence>Summary |
| Infraction |
| lesser included offenses |
| Crimes against the person |
| Assault · Battery (crime)>Battery · Robbery |
| Kidnapping · Rape |
| Mayhem · Manslaughter · Murder |
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| Burglary · Larceny · Arson |
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| Extortion · Forgery · Computer crime |
| Crimes against justice |
| Obstruction of justice · Bribery |
| Perjury · Misprision of felony |
| Inchoate offenses |
| Solicitation · Attempt |
| Conspiracy · Accessory |
| Subsets |
| Criminal procedure |
| Other areas of the common law |
| Contract law · Tort law · Property law |
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| Portals: · |
Battery is often broken down into gradations for the purposes of determining the severity of punishment. For example:
- Simple battery may include any form of non-consensual, harmful or insulting contact, regardless of the injury caused. Criminal battery requires an intent to inflict an injury on another, as distinguished from a tortious battery.
- Sexual battery may be defined as non-consensual touching of the intimate parts of another
- Family violence battery may be limited in its scope between persons within a certain degree of relationship: statutes with respect to this offense have been enacted in response to increasing awareness of the problem of domestic violence
- Aggravated battery is generally regarded as a serious offense of felony grade, involving the loss of the victim's limb or some other type of permanent disfigurement of the victim. As successor to the common law crime of mayhem, this is sometimes subsumed in the definition of aggravated assault.
As a first approximation to the distinction between battery and assault:
- the overt behavior of an assault might be A advancing upon B by chasing after him and swinging a fist at his head, while
- that of an act of battery might be A actually striking B.
See also
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