Assault and battery are classified as intentional torts, which means that the person who commits it does it intentionally.
That means it may be the basis for civil lawsuits.
But not every state has criminal statutes for this type of thing, since both acts can result in prosecution by courts, which may result in fines or even jail time.
Though they do carry the same legal requirements, typically criminal statutes, might be specific and may also vary in terms of intent to prosecute them as crimes.
Assault made or threats made by other people that do put bodily harm on them is classified as assault, while battery is contacting other people in offensive manners. Battery is also the logical result of assault, or called completed assault. For example, picking up rocks and hitting someone is assault, but the actual harm is classified as battery.
The Requirements
The requirements for this do vary by each jurisdiction, and the person needs to show to the jury that assault and battery happened, so you might want to consult your lawyer before bringing civil or criminal assault and battery cases against people.
There are a few things for assault and battery cases to happen.
First, there must be intentional attempt to harm the person. This means that words aren’t enough to constitute assault, the person needs to actually back them up and the actions must put harm in place.
The harm must be apparent, so the threatened harm must be possible. Calling someone and threatening harm isn’t enough.
The victim must be in fear of bodily harm. If a small person told a boxer that they were going to punch them, the boxer may not fear this because it isn’t threatening to them.
Battery does require the defendant to make contact with the person that was hurt. They also must have intended to cause fear of harm because of the physical contact sa well. For example, throwing a ball to scare someone isn’t technically battery but if it ends hitting someone, they might be charged and sued for battery, in this case civil battery.
What to Do as a Victim
If you do experience assault of battery, then you might be entitled to compensation. The first thing that you should do however, is file a police report for your own personal safety.
Typically, in the cases of assaults, you can get a temporary restraining order to protect you from future assault attempts.
Police reports are important since they will help to prove fault.
You’re also eligible to receive compensation in the form of a victim compensation fund, which helps those who are victims of violent crimes, including battery or assault, and helps with bills and other expenses.
What to Do if You’re Charged
If you are charged with this, you need to contact a good lawyer to help with any defenses.
If you’re sued for this, you’ll be facing demands for money made by the person for their injuries. Typically, you have about thirty days to respond to this, and you might want to bring up the defenses, especially if there was consent, such as in the case of football or martial arts.
But you should get a good criminal defense attorney as well. You my also be arrested and taken into custody, and then held on bail.
It’s important that if you don’t have a plea bargain, the judge will then determine if there is enough evidence in order to charge you.
It’s important on both sides to consult the personal injury attorney to help with solving this case too.