Non Fatal Offences Flashcards
Offences Against the Person Act 1861
- 26,000 prosecutions a year under this act
- BUT; frequent changes and amendments have left the law in an incoherent and confusing state
OAPA 1861 outdated core provisions
- Outdated drafting style
- heirarchy of offences lacks unfiying logical criterion
- Grading of offences is arbitary
- Overlap between offences
- Unecessary degrees of specifics and complexity
- Archaic language and misleading terminology
Basic structure of core offences
a. Assault (common law & S.39 of CJA 88’)
b. Battery (CL & s.39 of CJA 88’)
c. Assault occasioning ABH (s.47 OAPA 1861)
d. Malicious wounding or infliction of GBH (s.20 of OAPA 1861)
e. Intentionally causing GBH (s.18 OAPA 1861)
Assault and Battery (S.39 of CJA 88’) sentence
‘Common assault and battery shall be summary offences and a person guilty of either of them shall be liable to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or to both.’
Difference between assault and battery
Assault = threat
Battery = contact
Assault; communication of threat
- Words alone sufficient/ even silent phone calls suffice (Ireland [1997])
Assault; Imminence
The event must happen very soon
Assault; Unlawful force
- V must apprehend unlawful force
- If V has given valid consent or D uses defensive or preventive force
Assault; Mental element
James LJ [1976] QB 421; “We see no reason in logic or in law why a person who recklessly applies physical force to the person of another, should be outside the criminal law of assault”
MR can be satisfied by intention of recklessness
Battery Definition
“A battery if any intentional touching of another person without the consent of that person and without lawful excuse. it need not necessarily be hostile, or rude, or aggressive….”
Battery; What amounts to touching?
- Touching of clothing (Thomas [1985] Crim LR 677)
- Touching through an object (Fagan v MPC [1969]
- Indirect touching (DPP v K [1990])
Battery; Touching by way of omission
Santana-Bermudez [2004] Crim LR 471
Battery; Everyday touchings defintion
‘A touching acceptable in the ordinary conduct of daily life’ (KD v CC of Hampshire [2005] EWHC 2550)
Why do everyday touching’s not amount to criminal liability?
- Implied consent
- Exception to general rule of liability
Mens rea for battery
The same as for assault. Intention or recklessness, both are interchangeable.
Assault Occasioning Actual Bodily Harm (ABH)
S.47 OAPA 1861; Whoever shall be convicted upon an indictment of any assault occasioning ABH shall be liable…to be imprisoned for any term not exceeding 5 years
ABH general definition
Any hurt or injury calculated to interfere with health or comfort
More than transient and trifling (T v DPP[2003] Crim LR 622)
MR: Assault Occasioning ABH
Same as common assault and battery. Intention or recklessness. S.47 ‘half MR offence”
Malicious wounding or inflcting GBH
S.20 OAPA 1861; Whoever shall unlawfully and maliciously wound or inflict any grevious bodily harm upon any other person, either with or without any weapon or instrument, shall be guilty’
Defintion of wounding
“Breaking of the inner and outer skin” (C v Eisenhower [1984] QB 331)
Aggravated assault
- S.29 Crime and Disorder Act 1988
- Common assault S.47 and s.20 become more serious offences of they are racially or religiously aggravated
S.146 of CJA 2003
Increase in sentences for aggravation in relation to disability or sexual orientation
Domestic Abuse in legislation
S.70 Domestic Abuse Act 2021 - created an offence of strangulation or suffocation
S.70 Domestic Abuse Act 2021 broken down
- A person commits an offence if
a. A intentionally strangles another person
b. A does any act to B that
i) Affects B’s ability to breathe and
ii) Constitutes battery of B
Defence to S.70 of DAA 2021
It is a defence to an offence under this section for A to show B consented to the strangulation or other act
Malicious wounding or causing GBH with intent
S.18 OAPA 1861 “wound or cause any GBH to any person with intent to do GBH or with the intent to resist or prevent the lawful apprehension or detention shall be guilty”
Malicious wounding or causing GBH with intent - 4 ways it can be committed
- Wounding with intent to do GBH
- Wounding with intent to resist or prevent apprehension or detention
- Causing GBH with intent to do GBH
- Causing GBH with intent to resist or prevent apprehension or detention
Consent to harm defintion
A person willing to risk or give up his or her physical integrity in certain circumstances
Who can give consent?
- S.1(2) of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 - ‘A person must be assumed to have capacity unless it is established that he lacks capacity’
Consent and children
Children of sufficient maturity to understand the issues involved can give consent effectively, younger children rely on parents for consent (Gillick) [1986] AC 112)
Types of consent
- Express consent
- Implied consent (H v CPS [2010] EWHC 1374)
For what crims can consent be used as a defence?
Brown [1993] 2 WLR 556: Consent of the victim if no answer to anyone charged with [an offences contrary to S.47] or with a contravention of S.20 unless the circumstances fall within one of the well known exceptions
Consent for crime - Regarding public interest
Laskey, Jaggard and Brown v UK (ECHR) (1996) 24 EHRR 39; Criminalisation of consensual sado masochistic activities violates the right to respect for ones private life in Art 8 of ECHR but the criminal law interference can be justified as ‘necessary in a democratic society, for the protection of health’
Exceptions to the general rule that consent is no defence to ABH and worse include…
Sports and organised games - AG’s Ref No 6 [1980]; Barnes [2004] EWCA Crim 3246
Exceptions to Consent as a defence cont.
Tattooing and personal adornment (Wilson [1996] 3 WLR 125) but not body modifications
Religious mortification
Surgery (Brown [1993] 2 WLR 556/F v West Berkshire [1989])
Ritual circumcision of males but not women (Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003)
Exceptions to consent as a defence continued (DE/RH)
- Dangerous exhibitions (ie. stunts/circus; Richardson and Irvin [1999] 1 Cr App Rep 392)
- Rough horseplay (Jones (1896) 83 Cr App 375, Aitken (1992) 95 Cr App Rep 304)
- Non-violent sexual conduct carrying risk of STD (Dica/Konzani)
Mistaken belief in consent is considered…
Full consent as he honestly believed that V has consented
Consent criteria
- Consent must be given freely by someone with capacity to consent
Consent to —- will usually be valid?
Assault and battery
Honest belief in consent is….
…a valid consent
OAPA: Law reform; what are the most pressing problems?
- Incoherent grading and inconsistent penalty structure of the main offences
- Overlap between offences
- Failure to comply with the correspondence principle
- Are wounding and causing GBH really on the same level?
- Confusing statutory language
- The law is largely the product of ‘judicial legislation’ accessible only to experts in the field