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Non-fatal offences
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Lecture notes on non-fatal offences
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CL - Week 8 – Nonfatal (non-sexual) offences against the person- 1.2 million incidents of violence estimated by CSEW for the survey ending March 2020
- Incidents of violence take place in the home – Anthony Giddens ‘home is the most dangerous
place in modern society, more likely to be attacked in the home rather than the street’
- Wide spectrum of violence – from threat to serious physical harm where the victim is almost
dead
- How do we classify harm? - one way is to create separate offences – 1861 Offences against the
persons act
Offences Against the Persons Act (OAPA) 1861
- Assault – battery – S47 – S20 – S18 with S18 the most serious offence and assault the least
serious
Sentencing of Assault
- S.39 CJA 1988 – power to charge assault and battery – max sentence 6 months or a fine
- Summary only offence
- If certain requirements are met the offence can be tried in the crown court
Assault – common/technical assault
Actus reus
- Any conduct causing the result
o An act is required = Fagan v Metropolitain police commissioner [1969]
o However, if D creates a dangerous situation and fails to act this may result in an assault
– so can be an assault through omission
o Can words alone amount to an assault – discussed in case of Ireland and Burstow–
decided that yes words could amount to an assault
o Can a conditional threat be negated by words? - yes – seen in the case of Tuberville v
Savage [1669]
- V is a person
- V apprehends an imminent threat of unlawful force
o Apprehends means an individual anticipates/expects something to happens – it does
not mean anything to do with fear
o Imminent – given a broad interpretation by the courts – case of Smith v Chief
superintendent of woking police station [1983] - sufficiently immediately for the
purposes of the offence
o Case of R v Constanza – the court took the view in relation to this point, that V was
caused to apprehend violence ‘at some time not excluding the future’
o Not clear how much time can pass before it would be considered ‘immediate’ - jury to
decide
- Unlawful
o Not acting in self-defense
- Personal violence/force
, o Any unwanted touching, needing not to be serious
Men's rea – intentionally or recklessly causing V to apprehend immediate unlawful personal violence –
from the case of Venna [1976]
Live webinar – Battery and S.47
Battery
Sentencing
- S.39 CJA 1988 – power to charge assault and battery
- Maximum sentence 6 months and/or a fine
- Summary only offence
- If certain requirements are met the offence can be tried in the crown court – s.40 CJA
Actus reus = any unlawful, nonconsensual touching, does not have to be carried out through person-to-
person touch
Indirect touching?
Can be carried out through an object e.g., car: Fagan [1969]
Savage [1992] 1 AC 699, HL, by throwing a beer at someone
Smith [1866] 176 ER 910 by spitting
Touching does not have to be to Vs body/person – it can be V’s clothing: Thomas [1985] 81 Cr App R 331
(CA): “There can be no dispute that if you touch a person’s clothes while he is wearing them that is
equivalent to touching him”.
Unlawful touching:
Collins v Wilcock (1984) exception created to allow for the exigencies of everyday life
Can one consent to battery?
Consent is a defense to battery
Distinction between touching someone in an everyday way and in a way that is not everyday
S 47 OAPA
- ‘Actual bodily harm’
Sentencing
- Triable either way
- Magistrates – maximum 6 months or a fine
- CC – maximum 5 years
AR and MR of assault or battery + occasioned = caused (Roberts (1972) = ABH
Examples of ABH
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