Crime

A crime is an action or omission that creates an offense that is against the

regulation. There are two types of crimes; non-fatal and fatal crimes. Non-fatal
crimes are crimes where there is no death involved, just injuries or serious
injuries. The 5 non-fatal offences are, Assault, Battery, Actual bodily harm and
maliciously wounding or inflict grievous bodily harm Fatal crimes are crimes
where there is death involved for example; murder.
Assault s 39 criminal Justice Act 1988
The criminal justice Act 1988 s. 39 says that assault summary offence is
punishable with a maximum sentence of six months imprisonment or a fine. The
Act does not give a definition of the offence. There are relevant rules in common
law.
The actus reus of assault is any act that will make another person fear that
unlawful force is about to be used on against them. For there to be assault there
is no need of force. When you create a fear for somebody else there is already
assault created. An example is when you point a gun at someone that is already
an assault even if the gun was unloaded. As long as the victim does not know if
the gun is loaded or not there is already an assault committed.
A case example of assault is R v Ireland, a man who made a lot of silent phone
calls to different women. This is a case involving stalking. Words can be assault
for example if there is a man shouting at a stranger " I am going to kill you".
Even when the V is inside locked and safe still there can be an assault. A case
example is Smith v Chief Superintendent. The V was inside her house. The v was
wearing a nightdress. She feared when she saw the D standing in her garden
looking at her through the window. The court saw this as an assault because the
V feared the immediate infliction of force.
The mens rea for assault can be intentionally or recklessly.
Battery s 39 criminal Justice Act 1988
The mens rea for assault can be intentionally or recklessly.
The criminal justice Act 1988 s. 39 says that battery is a summary offence and is
punishable with up to six months imprisonment or a fine. Just like assault the Act
does not give a definition of the offence. There are relevant rules in common law.
The actus reus for battery is any unlawful touch on another person. Touching
somebody's cloth is seen as battery. There is no need to be harm or pain for a
battery to take place. A battery can be applied directly or indirectly. A directly
force is for example when one person pushes another person. Indirectly force can
be example when a person runs over another person in a car, just like in case
Fagan v Metropolitian Police Commissioner. Another case example is Haystead v

DPP. The D punched a woman more than once in the face while the woman was
holding her baby. When the V got punched in the face she dropped her child on
the floor and the baby hit his head on the floor. The defendant was convicted of
the offence of battery against the woman and the child.

Crime

Mens rea for battery can be recklessly or intentionally.

Assault occasioning Actual bodily harm s47 OAPA 1861

This act provides that it is an offence like the act itself says "any assault
occasioning actual bodily harm". This offence is known as ABH. The offence is
triable either way and if a D is found guilty of this offence, the D is liable to a
maximum sentence of five years imprisonment. There is no fine included.
The actus reus for this Act is the actus reus of assault or battery. Actual bodily
harm includes any hurt or injury. A case example is R v Chan-Fook. The D
questioned the V aggressively about his stolen fiances jewellery. After
questioning him he dragged him upstairs and locked him in a room. The V was
scared what the D will do after locking him in a room so he escaped through the
window, but injured himself because he felt on the ground. The D said that he did
not strike the V but he was charged with an offence under s. 47.
The mens rea for Assault Occasioning ABH is the same as battery or assault,
intentionally or recklessly. A case example is Savage and Parmenter. A D went in
to a pub, where she saw her husband's new girlfriend having a drink with others.
The D went on the table where the V was sitting and wanted to throw a pint of
beer over her but accidently she threw the beer and the glass over the V. The
glass broke and cut the V's wrist. The D tried to argue that it was not her
intention to cut the V's wrist and she did not realise that the glass might injure
the V. This was rejected because she already intended to apply unlawful force on
another person.
Maliciously wounding or inflicting grievous bodily harm s 20 OAPA 1861
This act section states " Whosoever shall unlawfully and maliciously wound or
inflict any grievous bodily harm upon any other person either with or without any
weapon or instrument shall be guilty of an offence triable either way, and being
convicted thereof shall be liable to imprisonment for five years.
The actus reus is when the D inflicted grievous bodily harm or wounded the
victim
Grievous bodily harm means "really serious harm" or "serious". In saunders 1985
the court appeal that there is no difference between "really serious harm" and
"serious". R v Brown and Stratton 1998. The V was a transsexual who had
undergone gender change treatment and changed the name to a woman's
name. The V went to the D's workplace (The D was V's son). The D felt
humiliated when the V went to D's work place. The D went to V's house with a

cousin of his and attacked V. They left the V with a broken nose, three missing
teeth, bruising and concussion. The D's were liable under s. 20.

Crime

Mens rea for this crime is maliciously.

Wounding or causing grievous bodily harm with intent s 18 OAPA 1861

This crime is similar to s. 20. The crime requires proof of grievous bodily harm or
wounding.
Wounding and grievous bodily harm are the actus Reus for s. 18 Just like in s. 20.
The mens rea for s. 20 is intentionally. There must be a proof that the D intent
the offence. The intent must cause grievous bodily harm. The D must have acted
maliciously. For there to be an offence there need to be a proof that the D acted
maliciously.
These are five examples of crimes
The first one is robbery. The offense of robbery is when someone is guilty for
example when a person takes something from someone that does not belong to
them without any permission or even with forcing them to give it them. An
example of a case is R v Clouded (1987). The D did not touch the V that he stole
a bag from. It was held that he used forced to rob her. This was a robbery used
by force.
The second crime example is Sexual Assault. Sexual Assault is any type of
unwanted sexual contact that happens without one of the people to actually
want it. A rape is a sexual assault. A case example of a rape is R v Olugboja
1982. A man offered two girls lift to take them back home from a disco. The girls
accepted his offer for the D to give them a lift back home. When they were
already in the car, the man changed his direction and was driving the girls to his
house. The girls refused to go to his house so they got off the car and started to
walk. The D followed them in the car picked up one of the girls and drove off to
his house and raped her. After that he went back and picked up the other girl and
drove with both of them to his house. D took the second girl that he picked up
and took her upstairs and raped her as well.
The third example of a crime is Child Abuse. Child abuse is when an individual
under 19 is abused or neglected and needs protection. A case example is; Two
out of nine children, who were adopted by a woman from Mendo, were abused.
The woman used an electric dog collar to discipline the two children in her care.
My fourth example of a crime is murder. Murder means Unlawful killing of a
person by other human being. Murder is the most serious offense. There are
actually a lot of murder cases. An example of a case is R v Cunningham (1982).
The D attacked the V in a pub because he thought that the V was having an
affair with his fianc. What he thought was not true. The D knocked the V to the
ground and left the V with serious injuries. The V died 7 days later. The jury said
that the D committed a crime murder.

My fifth example of a crime is criminal is damage. Criminal damage is when a

person internally or recklessly destroys or damages property that does not
belong to them, without a lawful reason. An example of a case is; D damaged
three vehicles and a garage door. He was asked if he was guilty or not. He
answered Not guilty. The D was punished by his act because there was a
witness who saw him doing the act. When he was committed the crime he did it
recklessly. The vehicles did not belong to him and he did not have a lawful
reason.

Crime

A recent crime that has happen is yesterday 08/10/2013 is the first founder of
Buddhist monastery in UK was stabbed to death in china. His brother said that
the Buddhist was killed along with his nephew and a monk in Chengdu in southwest of china. They have not found out yet who did it. But their bodies have been
taken to hospital.