Non-fatal Offences

7 Key excerpts on "Non-fatal Offences"

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  Scots Criminal Law

  A Critical Analysis

  • Pamela R. Ferguson, Claire McDiarmid(Authors)
  • 2014(Publication Date)
  • EUP

    (Publisher)

  Non-fatal Offences against the person 297 CHAPTER 10 Non-fatal Offences AGAINST THE PERSON 297 10.1.1 10.2.1 10.1 INTRODUCTION Freedom from unwanted or intrusive physical contact is an important aspect of liberalism, and it is a truism that the criminal law ought to safeguard the physical integrity of individuals. Non-fatal Offences include those which are of a sexual character – these are considered in Chapter 11. This chapter focuses on non-sexual offences. 10.2 ASSAULT The Scottish Crime and Justice Survey 2012/13 estimated, on the basis of interviews conducted between April 2012 and March 2013, that 28 per cent of crime was assault, of which 2 per cent were “serious” assaults. 1 The Survey defines “serious assault” as involving fractures (that is, the breaking or cracking of a bone), internal injuries, severe concussion, loss of consciousness, lacerations requiring sutures which may lead to impairment or disfigurement, and any other injury which may lead to impairment or disfigurement, or which requires treatment in hospital as an in-patient. 2 In 2012–13, 12 per cent of non-sexual violent crime took place in pubs, bars or clubs; 12 per cent in or around a shop, supermarket, shopping centre or precinct; 32 per cent occurred in or near the victim’s workplace (a large increase from the previous year, which was 19 per cent); and 20 per cent in or immediately outside the victim’s home. 3 As William Wilson suggests: “Because hurting people is presumptively wrong it makes particular sense to signal this core value by singling out those who deliberately flout it for special 1 Scottish Crime and Justice Survey 2012/13 , p iii. 2 Ibid , p 123. 3 Ibid , Table 3.2, para 3.4.1. Compare: Scottish Crime and Justice Survey 2010/11 , para 3.5.1. 10.2.2

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  eBook - ePub

  Modern Criminal Law

  Fifth Edition

  • Mike Molan(Author)
  • 2013(Publication Date)
  • Routledge-Cavendish

    (Publisher)

  CHAPTER 7

  Non-fatal Offences AGAINST THE PERSON

  7.1 INTRODUCTION

  In criminal law, the term ‘Non-fatal Offences against the person’ encompasses what might be called the ‘mainstream’ Non-fatal Offences against the person, such as causing grievous bodily harm, malicious wounding, actual bodily harm, assault and battery, ancillary offences such as poisoning, harassment and racially motivated offences, and sexual offences such as rape, indecent assault and various other forms of unlawful sexual conduct. It has long been acknowledged that this area of the criminal law is in need of urgent reform. The main statutory provision regarding assault-related offences is the Offences Against the Person Act (OAPA) 1861, which itself was largely a consolidating provision bringing together even earlier enactments in one piece of legislation. As will be seen there has been no shortage of law reform proposals, but for the moment it seems that only sexual offences are likely to be the subject of any significant statutory restatement in the near future (see below, 7.13 ).

  7.2 COMMON ASSAULT AND BATTERY

  Assault and battery existed as common law offences for centuries and, as will be seen, involve concepts that have been incorporated into more serious statutory offences such as assault occasioning actual bodily harm (s 47 of the OAPA 1861), assault upon a police officer (s 89 of the Police Act 1996) and indecent assault (ss 14 and 15 of the Sexual Offences Act (SOA) 1956).

  7.2.1 Actus reus of common assault

  The actus reus of assault, where the term assault is used in its narrow technical sense, merely requires proof that D has caused P to apprehend that immediate and unlawful violence is about to be inflicted upon him. Much confusion is caused by the fact that parliament, judges, lawyers and academics use the term assault in two senses. The narrow sense, as just described, but also in the broad sense to imply that there has also been some physical contact. Lord Lane CJ in Mansfield Justices ex p Sharkey

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  Criminal Law in Cameroon

  Specific Offences

  • Carlson Anyangwe(Author)
  • 2011(Publication Date)
  • Langaa RPCIG

    (Publisher)

  297 PART III CRIMES AGAINST PRIVATE INTEREST There are seven broad categories of offences under this head: (i) non-fatal assaults; (ii) fatal assaults (homicide); (iii) offences against personal tranquility; (iv) theft offences; (v) protection of business and other property; (vi) sexual offences; and (vii) offences against the family. 298 299 Psychic Physical Simple threats Conditional threats Minor harm Simple harm Slight harm Desertion of incapable Grievous harm Lawful homicide Excusable homicide Killing as a result of provocation Killing by accident Justifiable homicide Execution of condemned person Killing in lawful arrest Killing in lawful defence Unlawful homicide Unintentional killing Intentional killing Simple murder Assault on woman with child Capital murder Infanticide Abortion Mercy-killing Killing of a p arent Killing of an under-15 Intentional act causing unintentional death Reckless act causing unintentional death Assault occasioning death Death through witchcraft Death through arson Death through destruction of property Death through reckless driving Death through reckless fire Death through medical recklessness Death by reckless demolition of any structure Death through reckless conduct Offences against bodily integrity © C. Anyangwe 2011 300 301 Chapter 14 Offences against Bodily Integrity: Non-Fatal Assaults Human beings may demonstrate bravery and exude confidence. But they are fragile and inherently weak. They are generally vulnerable to each other. The degree of vulnerability varies according to the age, constitution and ‘cleverness’ of each person. But even the bravest, strongest and most cunning of men may become particularly weak and thus very vulnerable as when, for example, he is asleep, drunk, taken by surprise, sick, outclassed or outnumbered. The criminal law admonition, ‘thou shall not kill’ or ‘thou shall not harm’ thus aims at protecting the weak, which means practically every person, against injury by another person.

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  Optimize Criminal Law

  • John Hendy, Odette Hutchinson(Authors)
  • 2015(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  3

  Non-fatal Offences Against the Person

  Understand the law	• Can you define each of the offences in this chapter? • Which offences in this chapter are common law offences, and which are statutory offences outlined in the OAPA 1861 ?
  Remember the details	• Can you remember the actus reus and mens rea of each offence? • Can you define each element of the actus reus and mens rea using case law examples?
  Reflect critically on areas of debate	• Do you understand how consent may operate as a defence to an offence in this chapter? • Can you define intention and recklessness accurately and critically discuss them in relation to case law examples?
  Contextualise	• Can you relate these offences to other areas of criminal law such as sexual offences and homicide?
  Apply your skills and knowledge	• Can you complete the example essay and problem questions provided in each section of this chapter using case law and statutes to support your answer?

  Chapter Map

  Elements Chart

  Introduction

  In this chapter we are going to consider Non-fatal Offences against the person. This is a popular examination topic in its own right, but issues in relation to Non-fatal Offences against the person can overlap with sexual offences, property offences and homicide against the person. This is another area of the criminal law syllabus in which is it vitally important that you have a solid understanding of because this area of law may be related to a significant proportion of your studies.

  Aim Higher

  As you progress through this chapter, think about how these Non-fatal Offences relate to other criminal offences, such as homicide, sexual offences or property offences. This will help your understanding of these and other offences, and how they interact.

  In this chapter we will start by considering the least serious offences against the person and at the end we will consider the most serious offences against the person. A traditional classification for Non-fatal Offences against the person is to classify them as ‘simple offences’ and ‘aggravated offences’.

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  Cases & Materials on Criminal Law

  Fourth Edition

  • Mike Molan(Author)
  • 2009(Publication Date)
  • Routledge-Cavendish

    (Publisher)

  Chapter 5 Non-fatal Offences Against the Person

  DOI: 10.4324/9780203885833-5

  Contents

  • 5.1 Introduction
  • 5.2 Section 18 Offences Against the Person Act 1861 – Wounding or Grievous Bodily Harm with Intent
  • 5.3 Section 20 Offences Against the Person Act 1861 – Malicious Wounding or Grievous Bodily Harm
  • 5.4 Section 47 Offences Against the Person Act 1861 – Assault Occasioning Actual Bodily Harm
  • 5.5 Poisoning
  • 5.6 Common Assault and Battery
  • 5.7 ‘Stalking'
  • 5.8 Racially Motivated Assaults and Harassment
  • 5.9 Codification and Law Reform Proposals
  • 5.10 Consent to Physical Harm as a Defence

  5.1 Introduction

  The material selected for this chapter aims to cover the mainstream Non-fatal Offences against the person, as well as the related issue of consent to harm. Sexual offences are considered in Chapter 6 . The law relating to Non-fatal Offences against the person is to be found in a hotchpotch of common law and statutory provisions. It is an area crying out for reform and rationalisation. Despite the existence of workable proposals for codification, there is little sign of any government having the desire to take the political initiative.

  The major offences are:

  • s 18 Offences Against the Person Act 1861 – wounding or grievous bodily harm with intent;
  • s 20 Offences Against the Person Act 1861 – malicious wounding or grievous bodily harm;
  • s 47 Offences Against the Person Act 1861 – assault occasioning actual bodily harm;
  • common assault; and
  • common battery.

  In addition there are offences of poisoning, harassment, and racially aggravated forms of assault. The prosecution may also seek to rely on public order offences such as affray and riot – see ss 1 to 5 of the Public Order Act 1985 as amended.

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  Unlocking Criminal Law

  • Tony Storey, Natalie Wortley, Jacqueline Martin(Authors)
  • 2022(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  7

  Non-fatal Offences against the person

  DOI: 10.4324/9781003326793-7

  AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

  After reading this chapter you should be able to:

  • Understand the actus reus and mens rea of common assault
  • Understand the actus reus and mens rea of assault occasioning actual bodily harm (s 47)
  • Understand the actus reus and mens rea of malicious wounding/inflicting grievous bodily harm (s 20)
  • Understand the actus reus and mens rea of wounding or causing grievous bodily harm with intent (s 18)
  • Understand the actus reus and mens rea of strangulation and suffocation
  • Understand the circumstances in which a person will be charged with racially or religiously aggravated assault
  • Analyse critically the law on Non-fatal Offences against the person
  • Apply the law to factual situations to determine whether there is liability for Non-fatal Offences against the person

  The main offences are set out in the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 (OAPA). This Act merely tidied up the then existing law by consolidating all of the offences in one Act. It did not create a coherent set of offences and, as a result, there have been many problems in the law and many proposals for reform. In 1980 the Criminal Law Revision Committee made recommendations in its 14th Report, Offences Against the Person (Cmnd 7844, 1980). The Law Commission adopted these ideas, first in its Draft Criminal Code (1989) and then in 1993 in its report Legislating the Criminal Code: Offences Against the Person and General Principles. In February 1998 the Home Office issued a Consultation Document, Violence: Reforming the Offences Against the Person Act 1861, which pointed out that the 1861 Act ‘was itself not a coherent statement of the law but a consolidation of much older law. It is therefore not surprising that the law has been widely criticised as archaic and unclear and that it is now in urgent need of reform.’ The consultation document included a draft Bill (see section 7.7 ). Most recently, the Law Commission published Reform of Offences Against the Person(Law Com No 361) in November 2015. This Report recommended enactment of the Home Office’s 1998 draft Bill, with some modifications. Despite all of this, Parliament as yet has not reformed the OAPA. However, in 2021, Parliament did enact the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 which reformed this area of law by creating two new offences: strangulation and suffocation (see section 7.9

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  Non-Accidental Head Injury in Young Children

  Medical, Legal and Social Responses

  • Cathy Cobley, Tom Sanders(Authors)
  • 2006(Publication Date)
  • Jessica Kingsley Publishers

    (Publisher)

  A care order application was unsuccessful in only one case where, although the threshold criteria had been satisfied, by the time of the final hearing the order was not deemed necessary in the best interests of the child. Criminal prosecutions: the substantive criminal law In criminal prosecutions, the facts to be proved will vary according to the offence with which the defendant has been charged. The substantive crimi-nal law will dictate the acts or omissions which need to be proved (formally referred to as the actus reus or external elements of the offence), the level of culpability required (formally referred to as the mens rea or fault element of the offence) and any defences which may be applicable. The actual offence charged and defences raised will depend on the nature of the alleged NAI. In cases where the child has died as a result of the abuse, the appropriate charge will be one of the common law offences of murder where there is evi-dence of an intention to kill or cause grievous bodily harm (GBH) (serious injury), or manslaughter if the required intention cannot be proved. All that is required for manslaughter is that the defendant commits an unlawful act which is dangerous in the sense that it is such that all sober and reasonable PROVING NON-ACCIDENTAL HEAD INJURY / 93 people would inevitably recognise must subject the child to, at least, the risk of some harm resulting, albeit not serious harm ( R v Church (1966)). If the deceased child was under the age of 12 months and the defendant is the child’s mother, a charge of infanticide may be brought under s 1 of the Infanticide Act 1938. Although there are very few convictions for infanti-cide each year (and there were none in our research cohort), the offence of infanticide has been the subject of considerable debate, not least because it is based on the belief that the ordinary conditions of childbirth and lacta-tion have a potentially disruptive effect on mental state and behaviour of women.

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