Aggravated     Assault

n.the crime of physically attacking another personwhich results in serious bodily harm and/or is madewith a deadly or dangerous weapon such as a gun,knife, sword, ax or blunt instrument. Aggravatedassault is usually a felony punishable by a term instate prison.

                         

Assault

1) v. the threat orattempt to strike another, whether successful ornot, provided the target is aware of the danger. Theassaulter must be reasonably capable of carryingthrough the attack. In some states if the assault iswith a deadly weapon (such as sniping with a rifle),the intended victim does not need to know of theperil. Other state laws distinguish betweendifferent degrees (first or second) of assaultdepending on whether there is actual hitting, injuryor just a threat. "Aggravated assault" isan attack connected with the commission of anothercrime, such as beating a clerk during a robbery or aparticularly vicious attack. 2) n. the act ofcommitting an assault, as in "there was anassault down on Third Avenue." Assault is botha criminal wrong, for which one may be charged andtried, and civil wrong for which the target may suefor damages due to the assault, including for mentaldistress.                         

Assault     and Battery

n. the combinationof the two crimes of threat (assault) and actualbeating (battery). They are both also intentionalcivil wrongs for which the party attacked may file asuit for damages.                         

Battery

n. the actualintentional striking of someone, with intent toharm, or in a "rude and insolent manner"even if the injury is slight. Negligent or carelessunintentional contact is not battery no matter howgreat the harm. Battery is a crime and also thebasis for a lawsuit as a civil wrong if there isdamage. It is often coupled with "assault"(which does not require actual touching) in"assault and battery."                         

Domestic     Violence

n. the continuingcrime and problem of the physical beating of a wife,girlfriend or children, usually by the woman's malepartner (although it can also be female violenceagainst a male). It is now recognized as anantisocial mental illness. Sometimes a woman'sdependence, low self-esteem and fear of leavingcause her to endure this conduct or fail to protecta child. Prosecutors and police often face theproblem that a battered woman will not press chargesor testify due to fear, intimidation and misplaced"love." Increasingly domestic violence isattracting the sympathetic attention of lawenforcement, the courts and community services,including shelters and protection for those indanger.                         

Felony     Murder Doctrine

n. a rule ofcriminal statutes that any death which occurs duringthe commission of a felony is first degree murder,and all participants in that felony or attemptedfelony can be charged with and found guilty ofmurder. A typical example is a robbery involvingmore than one criminal, in which one of them shoots,beats to death or runs over a store clerk, killingthe clerk. Even if the death were accidental, all ofthe participants can be found guilty of felonymurder, including those who did no harm, had no gun,and/or did not intend to hurt anyone. In a bizarresituation, if one of the holdup men or women iskilled, his/her fellow robbers can be charged withmurder.                         

First     Degree Murder

n. although itvaries from state to state, it is generally akilling which is deliberate and premeditated(planned, after lying in wait, by poison or as partof a scheme), in conjunction with felonies such asrape, burglary, arson, or involving multiple deaths,the killing of certain types of people (such as achild, a police officer, a prison guard, a fellowprisoner), or certain weapons, particularly a gun.The specific criteria for first degree murder, areestablished by statute in each state and by the U.S.Code in federal prosecutions. It is distinguishedfrom second degree murder in which premeditation isusually absent, and from manslaughter, which lackspremeditation and suggests that at most there wasintent to harm rather than to kill.                         

Murder

n. the killing of ahuman being by a sane person, with intent, maliceaforethought (prior intention to kill the particularvictim or anyone who gets in the way) and with nolegal excuse or authority. In those clearcircumstances, this is first degree murder. Bystatute, many states consider a killing in whichthere is torture, movement of the person before thekilling (kidnapping) or the death of a policeofficer or prison guard, or it was as an incident toanother crime (as during a hold-up or rape), to befirst degree murder, with or without premeditationand with malice presumed. Second degree murder issuch a killing without premeditation, as in the heatof passion or in a sudden quarrel or fight. Malicein second degree murder may be implied from a deathdue to the reckless lack of concern for the life ofothers (such as firing a gun into a crowd or bashingsomeone with any deadly weapon). 

Depending on thecircumstances and state laws, murder in the first orsecond degree may be chargeable to a person who didnot actually kill, but was involved in a crime witha partner who actually did the killing or someonedied as the result of the crime. Example: In aliquor store stick-up in which the clerk shoots backat the hold-up man and kills a bystander, the armedrobber can be convicted of at least second degreemurder. A charge of murder requires that the victimmust die within a year of the attack. 

Death of anunborn child who is "quick" (fetus ismoving) can be murder, provided there waspremeditation, malice and no legal authority. Thus,abortion is not murder under the law. Example: JackViolent shoots his pregnant girlfriend, killing thefetus. Manslaughter, both voluntary and involuntary,lacks the element of malice aforethought.

                         

Second     Degree Murder

n. anon-premeditated killing, resulting from an assaultin which death of the victim was a distinctpossibility. Second degree murder is different fromfirst degree murder, which is a premeditated,intentional killing or results from a vicious crimesuch as arson, rape or armed robbery. Exactdistinctions on degree vary by state.                         

Manslaughter

n. the unlawfulkilling of another person without premeditation orso-called "malice aforethought" (an evilintent prior to the killing). It is distinguishedfrom murder (which brings greater penalties) by lackof any prior intention to kill anyone or create adeadly situation. There are two levels ofmanslaughter: voluntary and involuntary. Voluntarymanslaughter includes killing in heat of passion orwhile committing a felony. Involuntary manslaughteroccurs when a death is caused by a violation of anon-felony, such as reckless driving (called"vehicular manslaughter").

 Examples: EddyHothead gets into a drunken argument in a saloonwith his acquaintance Bob Bonehead, and Hothead hitsBonehead over the head with a beer bottle, causinginternal bleeding and death. Brent Burgle sneaksinto a warehouse intent on theft and is surprised bya security man, whom Burgle knocks down a flight ofstairs, killing him. Both are voluntarymanslaughter. However, if either man had used a gun,a murder charge is most likely since he brought adeadly weapon to use in the crime. 

The immediaterage in finding a loved one in bed with anotherfollowed by a killing before the passion coolsusually limits the charge to voluntary manslaughterand not murder, but prior attacks could convince aDistrict Attorney and a jury that the killing wasnot totally spontaneous. Lenny Leadfoot drives 70miles per hour on a twisting mountain road, goes offa cliff and his passenger is killed in the crash.Leadfoot can be charged with involuntarymanslaughter.

                         

Homicide

n. the killing of ahuman being due to the act or omission of another.Included among homicides are murder andmanslaughter, but not all homicides are a crime,particularly when there is a lack of criminalintent. Non-criminal homicides include killing inself-defense, a misadventure like a hunting accidentor automobile wreck without a violation of law likereckless driving, or legal (government) execution.Suicide is a homicide, but in most cases there is noone to prosecute if the suicide is successful.Assisting or attempting suicide can be a crime.                         

Justifiable     Homicide

n. a killingwithout evil or criminal intent, for which there canbe no blame, such as self-defense to protect oneselfor to protect another or the shooting by a lawenforcement officer in fulfilling his/her duties.This is not to be confused with a crime of passionor claim of diminished capacity, which refer todefenses aimed at reducing the penalty or degree ofcrime.                         

Self-Defense

n. the use ofreasonable force to protect oneself or members ofthe family from bodily harm from the attack of anaggressor, if the defender has reason to believehe/she/they is/are in danger. Self-defense is acommon defense by a person accused of assault,battery or homicide. 

The force used in self-defensemay be sufficient for protection from apparent harm(not just an empty verbal threat) or to halt anydanger from attack, but cannot be an excuse tocontinue the attack or use excessive force. 

Examples: an unarmed man punches Allen Alibi, whohits the attacker with a baseball bat. That islegitimate self-defense, but Alibi cannot chaseafter the attacker and shoot him or beat himsenseless. If the attacker has a gun or a butcherknife and is verbally threatening, Alibi is probablywarranted in shooting him. Basically, appropriateself-defense is judged on all the circumstances.Reasonable force can also be used to protectproperty from theft or destruction. Self-defensecannot include killing or great bodily harm todefend property, unless personal danger is alsoinvolved, as is the case in most burglaries,muggings or vandalism.