assault chapter 11. copyright ©2008 the mcgraw-hill companies, inc. all rights reserved. 2 overview...

Assault

Chapter 11

Copyright ©2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

2

OVERVIEW OF ASSAULT• An assault is an unlawful attempt or threat to

commit a physical injury to another through the use of force.

• Aggravated assaults represented 62.5 percent of the violent crimes committed in the United States during 2004, making it the most frequent of the crimes against people.


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LEGAL ELEMENTS OF THE CRIME OF ASSAULT

• At one time, in many states the term assault referred to threats of or attempts to cause bodily harm.

• The term battery referred to actually carrying out these threats of physical harm.

• Today most states have revised their statutes, and the term assault is used virtually synonymously with battery; thus the once separate crimes have been combined in a single crime called assault.

• Some states do, however, retain separate statutes for assault and battery: – Assault typically remains threats of or attempts to cause bodily harm. – Battery is typically understood as any unwanted touching or carrying out

threats to do bodily harm.


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LEGAL ELEMENTS OF THE CRIME OF ASSAULT

• Assault– An unlawful attempt or threat to commit a physical injury

to another through the use of force.

• Battery – Once used commonly to refer to actually carrying out the

threat of physical harm in an assault.– Today most jurisdictions use the terms synonymously and

call the crime assault.


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Classification of Assault

• Assaults are frequently divided into two general categories: 1. Simple assault2. Aggravated assault

(or felonious assault)


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Simple Assault

• Intentionally causing fear in a person of immediate bodily harm or death.

• Different jurisdictions may have slightly varying statutes, but most share several common elements, which include: Intent to do bodily harm to another individual Actual and present ability to do bodily harm Commission of some overt act demonstrating

intent to carry out the assault


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Aggravated Assault

• Aggravated (felonious) assault– An unlawful attack on another person with the intention of

causing severe bodily harm.

• An aggravated assault must include all three elements of a simple assault and an additional element:– 4. Intentional inflicting of bodily harm that has resulted in

one or more of the following:a. Sufficient injury to cause a high probability of deathb. Severe physical disfigurementc. Permanent loss of prolonged impairment of the use or function of

any body part or organ, or any injury to the body


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Aggravated Assault

• Aggravated assaults are usually committed with a weapon that is likely to produce serious injury or a potentially fatal wound.


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Stalking: A New Assault Technique

• Intentionally and repeatedly following, attempting to contact, harassing, or intimidating another person.

• In some cases the stalker is an individual enamored with a famous person, but the majority of stalkers are estranged husbands or boyfriends, or in some way are known to the victim.

• Traditionally, most police agencies have responded to stalking by recommending that the victim seek a restraining order against the stalker.


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• Restraining order – Court order requiring a person to do or refrain from

doing a particular thing.

• Research suggests that nearly 90 percent of all stalkers are men, and 81 percent of the women being stalked are stalked by current or former intimate partners.


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• Erotomania– The stalker develops the delusional belief that he or she

is passionately loved by another person.– This is a rather rare form of stalking.

• Love Obsessional– Some members of this categorical grouping may only be

obsessed with their love for a victim, without believing the victim loves them in return.

– Typically, celebrity stalkers are classified as love obssessional.


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• Simple Obsessional– The stalker usually has had a prior relationship

with the victim, often an intimate one in the context of some form of domestic violence.

– The most common type of stalker.


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INVESTIGATING ASSAULTS• In many assault cases the assailant and the victim know

each other well or are at least acquainted with one another.– 3 % of the aggravated assaults were between intimately

known persons.– 7 % involved victims and assailants who were other types of

relatives. – 35 % of the aggravated assaults reported were between

persons who knew each other (friends and acquaintances).• Taken together these three categories of nonstranger

assailants represent 44% of the aggravated assaults reported in 2004.


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INVESTIGATING ASSAULTS

• Investigating assault cases has a number of dangers. – Officers frequently arrive on the scene when the parties are

in a heated emotional state or in the middle of a fight. – The officer’s immediate task is to take control of the

situation, separate the parties, and check for injuries. – If injuries are found, they should be treated with first aid,

and, if necessary, medical personnel should be summoned. – Next, the officer should find out what happened and try to

determine who is an assailant and who is a victim.


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INVESTIGATING ASSAULTS• A second danger to officers investigating assaults is

complacency, or taking things for granted.– Complacency

• Lack of care resulting from having grown accustomed to a given pattern of events or behavior; taking for granted certain events and circumstances.

• Officers on patrol sometimes grow accustomed to being dispatched to a particular address for a domestic violence call.

• Citizen’s arrest – An arrest by a private individual, as contrasted with a police

officer, permitted under certain circumstances for a felony or for a misdemeanor amounting to a breach of the peace.


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DOMESTIC ASSAULT• Many of the nation’s assaults occur between family

members.– Intrafamily violence • Any type of violent behavior directed toward a family

member.

• Assaults by strangers often occur in public, such as on the street, at a store, a park, or a parking lot.

• Domestic assaults usually occur in private residences and were believed to be largely inaccessible to police.


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Assaults against Spouses

• Slightly more than a third of all visits to emergency rooms by women are for injuries that occur during domestic assaults.


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Assaults against Spouses

• Because of the enormity of violence against women and especially domestic partners, most jurisdictions across the United States have established domestic violence statutes.– Domestic violence statutes• Laws that outlaw physical violence against any

family member.• Responding officers serve as the complainant in

domestic assault situations under certain circumstances.


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Assaults against Children• Parents or caregivers may give various reasons for injuries to

their children. • They may blame an injury on an accident or on actions of a

sibling. • Common explanations offered by parents for their children’s

injuries:– falling down stairs– running into walls and doors– tripping on sidewalk cracks

• Child abuse – Physical harm, including sexual abuse, or emotional harm inflicted on

children.• Battered child syndrome

– The group of injuries suffered by physically abused children.


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Assaults against Children

• One form of child abuse that has begun to intrigue many law enforcement agencies is Munchausen syndrome by proxy (MSBP or MSP).– Munchausen syndrome by proxy • A parenting disorder in which parents or caregivers,

usually the mother, fabricate symptoms in their children to gain attention.


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• In some cases the parents or caregivers also inflict injury, expose the child to contaminants or even poison, and sometimes inadvertently kill the child in the process.


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• Among the most common procedures for securing evidence in an MSBP case is separation of the suspect and the victim.

• If the symptoms of illness cease or dissipate when the two are kept apart, and if the symptoms reappear shortly after the two are reunited, the inference of MSBP is quite strong.


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Assaults against Elders

• A family member may take out his or her frustration on elderly parents or aunts or uncles who cannot defend themselves.

• Such abuse may also take place in retirement and elder care home and nursing facilities.


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Assaults against Elders• As in child abuse cases, investigators should look for an

injury that does not fit the explanation for the injury. • Common injuries inflicted on elders include: – burns– cuts– pinches– bruises and welts– dehydration or malnutrition– soiled clothing or bedding– injuries to parts of the body normally hidden by clothing

assault chapter 11. copyright ©2008 the mcgraw-hill companies, inc. all rights reserved. 2 overview...

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