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Assault is the crime of violence against another person. In some jurisdictions (e.g. Australia), assault is used to refer
to the actual violence, while in other jurisdictions (e.g. some in the United
States, England and Wales), assault refers only to the threat
of violence, while the actual violence is battery. Simple
assaults do not involve weapons; aggravated assaults do.
Assault is often defined to include not only violence, but any physical contact with another person without their consent.
When assault is defined like this, exceptions are provided to cover such things as normal social intercourse (for example,
patting someone on the back).
English and Welsh law makes distinctions based on the degree of injury, between:
- common assault (which can
be even the most minor assault)
- assault with actual
bodily harm (ABH)
- assault with grievous bodily harm (GBH)
In some jurisdictions, consent is a defence to assault, while in other
jurisdictions (most notably England) it is not. This can have important consequences
when dealing with issues such as sadomasochistic sexual activity. In England, several men have been successfully convicted of
assault for engaging in sadomasochistic activities, even though the activity was consensual; the mostable case being the Operation Spanner case.
See also:
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