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The Batlord · 08-14-2014, 07:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ladyislingering

I'm 100% sure that touching someone without their permission is assault. Especially if you're being a rude piece of garbage. I've had customers removed from my store just for touching me without asking, because it's creepy, rude, and fucking gross. It's sad how many people don't have basic manners anymore.

Go ahead. Call the cops. See if I give a ****.

assault legal definition of assault

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Generally, the essential elements of assault consist of an act intended to cause an apprehension of harmful or offensive contact that causes apprehension of such contact in the victim.

The act required for an assault must be overt. Although words alone are insufficient, they might create an assault when coupled with some action that indicates the ability to carry out the threat. A mere threat to harm is not an assault; however, a threat combined with a raised fist might be sufficient if it causes a reasonable apprehension of harm in the victim.Intent is an essential element of assault. In tort law, it can be specific intent—if the assailant intends to cause the apprehension of harmful or offensive contact in the victim—or general intent—if he or she intends to do the act that causes such apprehension. In addition, the intent element is satisfied if it is substantially certain, to a reasonable person, that the act will cause the result. A defendant who holds a gun to a victim's head possesses the requisite intent, since it is substantially certain that this act will produce an apprehension in the victim. In all cases, intent to kill or harm is irrelevant.

In criminal law, the attempted battery type of assault requires a Specific Intent to commit battery. An intent to frighten will not suffice for this form of assault.

There can be no assault if the act does not produce a true apprehension of harm in the victim. There must be a reasonable fear of injury. The usual test applied is whether the act would induce such apprehension in the mind of a reasonable person. The status of the victim is taken into account. A threat made to a child might be sufficient to constitute an assault, while an identical threat made to an adult might not.

Virtually all jurisdictions agree that the victim must be aware of the danger. This element is not required, however, for the attempted battery type of assault. A defendant who throws a rock at a sleeping victim can only be guilty of the attempted battery assault, since the victim would not be aware of the possible harm.

Simple Assault Crimes: Laws and Penalties | What is Simple Assault? | Criminal Law

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Assault is a crime of violence, which is defined differently from one state to another. Some states define assault as the intentional use of force or violence against another, such as punching a person or striking the victim with an object. In other states, assault need not involve actual physical contact, and is defined as an attempt to commit a physical attack or as intentional acts that cause a person to feel afraid of impending violence. Under this second definition, verbal threats are usually not enough to constitute an assault. Some action, such as raising a fist or moving menacingly toward a victim, usually is required. In these states, threatening to hurt someone while walking toward him with a clenched, raised fist would constitute assault.

The Victim’s Fear

In states that define assault as placing a victim in fear of violence, the victim’s response must not only be genuine but reasonable under the circumstances. The test normally is whether the defendant’s actions would cause a reasonable person to be in fear of an immediate physical attack. In other words, the response should be what you would expect from any reasonable person in the victim’s position.

Simple and Aggravated Assault

Simple assault is the least serious form of assault. It involves minor injury or a limited threat of violence, and usually is charged as a misdemeanor. In states where assault is a physical attack, pushing someone or slapping someone in an argument are instances of simple assault. Where the law defines assault as threatening behavior that puts another in fear, threatening to punch someone would be a simple assault.
Aggravated assault involves circumstances that make the crime more serious, as when the assault is committed with a deadly weapon or results in serious injury that requires hospitalization or surgery or disfigures the victim. To learn more about aggravated assault, see our article on Aggravated Assault.