Criminal Law Today - Chapter 8

aggravated battery

A battery that is committed with the use of a deadly weapon, that is committed with the intention of committing another crime, or that results in serious injury.

battery

(1) unlawful physical violence on another inflicted without his or her consent. (2) An intentional and offensive touching or wrongful physical contact with another, without consent, that results in some injury or offends or causes discomfort.

criminal sexual conduct

A gender-neutral term applied today to a wide variety of sex offenses, including rape, sodomy, criminal sexual conduct with children, and deviate sexual behaviour.

rape shield law

A statute intended to protect victims of rape by limiting a defendant's in-court use of a victim's history.

sexual assault

A statutory crime that combines all sexual offenses into one offense (often with varied degrees). It is broader than the common law crime of rape.

constructive touching

A touching that is inferred or implied from prevailing circumstances. Also, a touching for purposes of the law.

aggravated assault

An assault that is committed with the intention of committing an additional crime, such as assault with the intent to commit a felony; assault with intent to commit rape, sodomy. mayhem, robbery, or grand larceny; and assault that involves special circumstances specified by the law.

deviate sexual intercourse

And contact between any part of the genitals of one person and the mouth or anus of another.

sexual contact

Any touching of the anus, breast, or any part of the genitals of another person with intent to arouse or gratify the sexual desire of any person.

present ability

As used in assault statutes, a term meaning that the person attempting assault is physically capable of immediately carrying it out.

effective consent

Consent that has been obtained in a legal manner. Also called legal consent.

fellatio

Oral stimulation of the penis.

bodily injury

Physical harm to a human being. In cases of assault and battery, the term refers to the unlawful application of physical force on the person of the victim - even when no actual physical harm results.

forcible rape

Rape that is accomplished against a person's will by means of force, violence, duress, menace, or fear of immediate and unlawful bodily injury to the victim.

statutory rape

Sexual intercourse, whether consensual or not, with a person under the age of consent, as specified by the state.

stalking

The intentional frightening of another through following, harassing, annoying, tormenting, or terrorizing activities.

mayhem

The intentional infliction of injury on another that causes the removal of, seriously disfigures, or impairs the function of a member or organ of the body.

spousal rape

The rape of one's spouse.

kidnapping

The unlawful removal of a person from the place where he or she is found, against that person's will, and through the use of force, fraud, threats, or some other form of intimidation. Also, an aggravated form of false imprisonment that is accompanied by either a moving or secreting of the victim.

false imprisonment

The unlawful restraint of another person's liberty. Also, the unlawful detention of a person without his or her consent. Also called false arrest.

sexual battery

The unlawful touching of an intimate part of another person against that person's will and for the purpose of sexual arousal, gratification or abuse.

probative value

The worth of any evidence to prove or disprove the facts at issue.

rape

Under common law, unlawful intercourse with a female without her consent.Today, rape statures in a number of jurisdictions encompass unlawful sexual intercourse between members of the same gender.

assault

attempted or threatened battery. A willful attempt or willful threat to inflict injury on another person. Also, the act of intentionally frightening another person into fearing immediate bodily harm. One statutory definition of assault reads "an unlawful attempt, coupled with a present ability, to commit a violent injury on the person of another."

sodomy

oral or anal copulation between people of the same gender or between a human being and an animal.