I) Crimes Against the Person

A) Assault
a) Attempted battery
(i) intentional attempt, using violence or force, to injure or harm another person
(ii) some jurisdictions require the attempt to be coupled with a present ability to
succeed (ex: an unloaded gun cannot succeed)
b) Intentional creation of imminent apprehension of battery
(i) if Person A threatens Person B with an unloaded gun for the purpose of
frightening B, even if A knows the gun is unloaded, A is guilty of this type of
battery
(ii) typically requires overt/direct act putting reasonable person in fear; spoken words
alone not enough
c) Jurisdictional differences
(i) some jurisdictions only punish attempted battery-type assault; others punish both
(ii) some jurisdictions use assault to describe either assault or battery
d) Aggravated assault
(i) in most jurisdictions, certain assaults are classified as aggravated based on:
1 intent to create a more serious crime
 assault with intent to commit murder or rape is punished more severely
than simple assault (defendant must actually intend to commit a more
serious crime)
 assault merges with completed crime
 means used to perpetrate the offense (ex: assault with dangerous
weapon)
 special status of the victim (ex: assault of police officer in performance
of duty)
B) Battery- intentional harmful/offensive touching without consent
a) Details
(i) in some jurisdictions, criminal negligence is enough and battery does not need to
be intentional
(ii) touching need not be direct (ex: unlawfully applying force to an object, causing
offensive touching or bodily injury to person)
b) Aggravated battery
(i) in most jurisdictions, batteries are aggravated and punished as felonies based on:
1 means used to perpetrate the offense (ex: a deadly weapon is used)
2 resultant harm (ex: serious bodily injury)
3 special status of the victim (ex: battery of a police officer in performance of
duty)
C) Rape and Sexual Assault
a) Common law rape (original law)
(i) forced sexual intercourse by a male on a female who is not his wife
1 this can be achieved by:
 deception or fraud
 while female is asleep or unconscious
 if female is not competent to consent
b) Statutory rape
(i) intercourse by a male with an underage female who is not his wife
1 modern statutes define rape and sexual assault to be nonconsensual sex
 sex broadly defined to include more than intercourse
 marital exception partially or completely abolished in most states
 gender neutral: either a man or woman can commit rape or be raped
 the modern focus of law is on sexual autonomy, not chastity
 once consent is given, it can be withdrawn if clearly conveyed
 modern statutory rape laws protect underage victims, both male and
female, and neither consent nor mistake is a defense in most jurisdictions
 reasonable mistake of age defense allowed in some states
 there is no set list of states that allow or restrict this defense, but
both California and Washington have allowed it
(ii) in Texas, if both parties are over the age of 14 and within three years of each
other’s age, intercourse is not considered rape assuming both parties are willing
1 called the “Romeo and Juliet” law