Other Offense Against the Person Flashcards
What is battery?
Battery is an unlawful application of force to the person of another resulting in either bodily injury or an offensive touching. A battery can be, but need not be, intentional, and the force need not be applied directly (for example, causing a dog to attack the victim is a battery). Battery is a general intent crime. Some jurisdictions recognize consent as a defense to simple battery and/or certain specified batteries.
a. Aggravated Battery
Most jurisdictions treat the following as aggravated batteries and punish them as felonies: (1) battery with a deadly weapon; (2) battery resulting in serious bodily harm; and (3) battery of a child, woman, or police officer.
What is assault?
Assault is either:
(1) An attempt to commit a battery or
(2) The intentional creation—other than by mere words—of a reasonable apprehension in the mind of the victim of imminent bodily harm.
If there has been an actual touching of the victim, the crime can only be battery, not assault.
a. Aggravated Assault
Aggravated assault is an assault plus one of the following:
(1) the use of a deadly or dangerous weapon, or (2) with the intent to rape, maim, or murder.
What is false imprisonment?
False imprisonment consists of the unlawful confinement of a person without the person’s valid consent. The M.P.C. requires that the confinement must “interfere substantially” with the victim’s liberty. It is not confinement to simply prevent a person from going where they desire to go, as long as alternative routes are available to them. Note also that consent is invalidated by coercion, threats, deception, or incapacity due to mental illness, substantial cognitive impairment, or youth.
What is kidnapping?
Modern statutes often define kidnapping as unlawful confinement of a person that involves either (1) some movement of the victim, or (2) concealment of the victim in a “secret” place.
Aggravated Kidnapping
Aggravated kidnapping includes kidnapping for ransom, kidnapping for the purpose of committing other crimes, kidnapping for offensive purposes, and child stealing (the consent of a child to their detention or movement is not of importance because a child is incapable of giving valid consent).
What is rape?
Traditionally, rape was the unlawful carnal knowledge of a woman by a man, not her husband, without her effective consent. Today, a number of state statutes have renamed “rape” as gender-neutral “sexual assault.” The slightest penetration is sufficient.
What happens in the absence of a marital relationship?
Under the traditional rule and the M.P.C., a husband cannot rape his wife, but most states today either reject this rule entirely or reject it where the parties are estranged or separated.
What happens under the lack of effective consent?
To be rape, the intercourse must be without effective consent. Lack of effective consent exists where:
• Intercourse is accomplished by actual force
• Intercourse is accomplished by threats of great and immediate bodily harm
• The victim is incapable of consenting due to unconsciousness, intoxication, or mental condition; or
• The victim is fraudulently caused to believe that the act is not intercourse
Note that consent due to other types of fraud (for example, the perpetrator persuading the victim that the perpetrator is the victim’s spouse or that they will get married) is effective.
What is statutory rape?
Statutory rape is carnal knowledge of a person under the age of consent. Statutory rape is a strict liability crime, and, therefore, it is not necessary to show lack of consent.
What happens if there is a mistake as to age?
Will a defendant’s reasonable mistake as to the victim’s age prevent liability for statutory rape? For purposes of the examination, the best answer is no, since statutory rape is a strict liability crime. A second best answer, to be used only if no alternative making use of the best position is presented, is that a reasonable mistake as to age will prevent conviction if the defendant reasonably believed the victim was old enough to give an effective consent.
