Penalties and Punishments for the Crimes of Assault - Essay Example

? Introduction Initially in most s of the United s, assault was differentiated from battery where assaultis defined as the threat of violence while battery is the physical violence. This distinction only exists in the jurisdictions that are prone to the modality of distinguishing the threatened violence to the actual violence (Brannigan 2012). In most of the states of the US, assault or battery is committed in the case where:- An individual attempts to or actually hits another person causing harm or injury to them The scenario also exists when the individual acts in a threatening manner which renders the other person into fear of being harmed In other instances, most states in the US will declare assault or battery shall have been committed in a gravious manner if an individual or group cause severe injury to the others or the individual or group causes severe injury using a fatal weapon or deadly weapon (Chambliss 2011). Throughout, the law treated the threat of physical injury as assault while battery was considered the complete contact to cause harm. This version of the distinction is no longer valid as compared to the physical contact hence null and void. For Hilder to be taken to the hospital after being hit by the husband with a chair leg by the husband Billy is a clear example of Assault or battery to mention. The act is worsened when Billy further exposes their violent acts to the public through putting a slap on the face of the nurse, which prompts the calling of the police to arrest Hilder’s husband. The arrest of Billy for assault is much in pace and if prosecuted would be liable because there is the medical evidence of physical injury and as well the two children aged five and eight also could act as witnesses to the aggravated violence case. This is because assault or battery are an example of the widely known criminal offenses given that their occurrence vividly brings to the minds of the victims scenes of fight or violence in line of the aggravated acts (Brannigan 2012). Legally the two terms or concepts are quite distinct and hence their punishments are quite different with the determination of battery attracting vast penalty as compared to whether it is simply an assault. In their determination and proof against or for the parties concerned in the argument, have to clearly breakdown the concepts into their respective elements. In handling of this case we will look at the case clearly while even defining all the defenses available for the accuse persons and the look at the penalties to be faced in the cases of the sentences by the respective offenders (Gore 2007). The act by Billy on the wife Hilder will amount to assault due to the mere fact that the definition of assault and battery is nowadays not factually differentiated. Otherwise, the factual definition of assault as it remains in the other states is that the conviction for assault will still need the existence of the criminal act since an assault will require a direct act to put another individual to a reasonable fear. This therefore dispels the notion of spoken words alone being considered assault not until the offender backs them up with relevant actions that make the recipient in a position of foreseeing imminent danger (Reddington & Kreisel 2005). For a person to be considered to have committed an assault the individual only needs to have shown the general intents, Billy though has gone further to hit both his wife and the nurse intensely injuring the wife after he pretends to be going to see the wife in the hospital which is the most unlikely case they would witness. It means that someone can hardly assault another person accidentally but they have to act in a manner likely to amount to a cause of terror to the offenders. Therefore, if an individual acts in a way that's considered dangerous to other people that can be enough to support assault charges, even if they didn't intend a particular harm to a particular individual which will be in the intention to scare or frighten the other person. In our case, Billy frightens Hilder and the nurse through actual battery with the vast transgression of causing assault (Briggs & Friedman 2009). Defenses available for Billy Depending on the facts and circumstances surrounding assault, the defenses available can widely vary. This is because the cases can at times be complex as compared to the expected simplicity. Concerning, the basic element definition of assault assuming that there is no complexity; the following defenses would be exploited by Billy to help guard him against the complainants who are the wife and the nurse through the prosecutor. Self defense- this is the most common defense that is used in most of the assault cases. In order for Billy to establish a successful defense, he has to factually show that there was a threat to unlawful force or the existence of some form of harm against them (Burgess 2008). In addition to this, they will be required to prove that on their part they did not provoke the other parties and hence able to perceive a real and honest fear of harm to themselves and finally there has to be a proof that the was no chance whatsoever reasonable for retreating or escaping the other parties. For example, Bill can argue that the wife confronted them after a perceived quarrel by starting shouts at the husband beating him through slaps and scratches (Falkner 2012). In the process Billy is terrified and strikes the wife with the leg of a chair before going away where he stays away for an hour and is reported to have been witnessed at stopover at the’ two ducks’ for a few pints. This doctrine of self-defense is though not quite appropriate as it comes with a series of setbacks or limitations. This is because simply because Billy acts in self-defense does not mean that the harm they caused to Billy and the nurse cannot be quantified appropriately. The force to be applied when one is defending themselves has to be reasonable not to cause deadly damages. Bill would still be found guilty if they plead not guilty on self-defense, as he is the husband hence superior to the wife; a wife is also less masculine as they are a woman hence not able to attack the husband to warrant the injuries got (Gore 2007). The second defense that Billy would try defending themselves through is called the defense of others. It is quite similar to the defense of the self, the only significant difference is that the individual using this form of defense has to be honest and have the real perceived fear of being harmed. Similar to this form of defense the limitations are still imminent as for the former (Falkner 2012). Therefore, the accused have to prove their fear of being harmed beyond reasonable doubt in order to win the trust of the court with respect to this defense. Billy must therefore prove beyond reasonable doubt that they were protecting the five and the eight year old from the looming harm of the mother who as of yet had not been diagnosed insane to warrant Billy’s argument in this manner. Thirdly, we have consent available for Billy as a defense and this depends on the jurisdiction of the case. This is available for Billy in the case where Hilder and the nurse voluntarily consent to the act of being beaten by Billy on their own willingness to warrant a bailout for Billy. These acts of beating will not therefore amount to assault before the courts. The acts can only still amount to assault if they exceed the amount that is consented to. In addition, it should be noted that courts scrutinize consent as a defense closely, and tend to find that harmful actions, even if consented to, violate public policy and should still be punished under assault laws (Reddington & Kreisel 2005). Consent would be much applicable for Billy in the violence registered on his wife, as it would be termed as sexual assault given that they are married and have children. The wife may defend his husband and say that they allowed the beatings registered on them by their husbands. Lastly, under the defenses, we can ply for the defense that they only acted in the manner to defend their property from invasion. This would not appropriately apply for Billy since in his case they are a family hence co-owns the property he would claim to want to protect. This law in part is not much applicable in the defense of personal property only being applicable in the instances when the property is snatched from the individual in some force hence allowed to use reasonable force to retrieve the property stolen (Burgess 2008). Penalties and sentencing for assault For Hilder who is Billy’s wife and the nurse to find justice out of the prosecutor’s proceedings in the courts, they have to be accorded the appropriate penalties and sentencing against Billy. The available penalties and sentences for the assault by Billy may vary depending on the state law of the jurisdictional area where the offence is committed; alongside this are the circumstances of each of the cases analyzed. The punishments exist in a variety ranging from fines to imprisonment (Briggs & Friedman 2009). This depends on the magnitude of the offences as well as the criminal records and history of the person committing the offence. If the injuries caused by Billy on both the wife Hilder and the nurse are so severe, then the number of years imprisonment and the fines are likely to be quite high, if Billy is a first time offender of the said crime the if found guilty, the courts may have mercies on him and enact lenient punishments or fines. Stiffer penalties may be bestowed upon those individuals who pose extensive crime records and they are fond of the crimes given that they are often found in such crimes. On the same note, in the event that the severity of the assault rises consistently and reaches to a level where it can be termed as an aggravated assault, the penalties and the punishments will also rise considerately (Falkner 2012). This is because such levels of the assault, in most of the states are considered to as felony. Billy may be headed to this direction given his nature of just striking individuals without forthright reasons. Within quite a short while. Billy has knocked on the wife and serious injuries are witnessed as the wife goes through medication. The same day after a few hours, Billy beats up a nurse at the hospital, therefore, in all the instances, both the severity of the crimes committed by Billy and the frequency in which they occur is high likely to attract high fines from the courts. Classification of the penalties and the punishments is done with considerations of the victims being punished (Reddington & Kreisel 2005). Penalties and punishments for the crimes of assault must therefore be looked at keenly given the pain that is normally caused on the victims without their consent. The judgments have to be careful as the offenders through their lawyers are always likely to escape the wrath of the courts hence be in the position of repeating the same offences repeatedly (Burgess 2008). The enacting of the laws for the offences should also be administered thoughtfully. This should be opposed to those states, which treated with seriousness if the offenses are committed on police officers and therefore increasing the penalty as opposed to when the crime is committed to the ordinary citizen where the culprits may even go scot-free after harming the victims. Billy is likely to face even stiffer penalties as the assault committed is against their own family members; this is because the laws have harsher penalties for assaults committed against family members or against individuals living with the accused. The support for this is that the crimes committed under this at are prosecuted as domestic abuse or violence, crimes in this bracket would earn the accused greater, and stiffer penalties as the offended are always women or infants without the ability to defend them (Bohmer & Parrot 2003). References Bohmer, C, & Parrot, A, 2003, Sexual assault on campus: the problem and the solution. Lexington Books: New York. Brannigan, M, 2012, Assault, Moose Enterprises Book and Theatre Play Pub./Moose Hide Books: Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. Briggs, SM, & Friedman, J, 2009, Criminology for dummies, Wiley: Hoboken, N.J. Burgess, AW, 2008, Sexual assault of children and adolescents, Lexington Books: Lexington, Mass. Chambliss, WJ, 2011, Crime and criminal behavior, SAGE: Thousand Oaks, Calif. Falkner, B, 2012, The assault, Random House: New York. Gore, A, 2007, The assault on reason, Penguin Press: New York. Reddington, FP, & Kreisel, BW, 2005, Sexual assault: the victims, the perpetrators, and the criminal justice system, Carolina Academic Press: Durham, N.C. Read More