An assault is a violent attempt, or willful effort with force or violence, to do harm to another person, but without necessarily touching his person, as by striking at him and missing him. In other words, an assault is the crime whose action is such an attempt whether intentional or negligent, provided the target is aware of the danger (Doris, 2017) . Assaults extends to a violent onset or attack with physical means or moral weapons. Physical attack would be using things like blows and weapons while moral attack would be using things like words, arguments and appeals. On the other hand, battery is the actual infliction of unlawful physical violence to a person, legally distinguished from assault which only includes the threat of impeding violence (Malcolm, 2014) . Assault and battery are fall under the category of ‘crimes against persons”. Criminal activities are classified into three broad classes: crimes against property, crimes against persons and crimes against society. Crimes against persons is a category of the various crimes that are committed, at one time or another, that are considered to be an attempt to inflict or actually inflict bodily harm to another, whether physical or emotional (Doris, 2017) . Other crimes against persons includes; criminal homicide, sexual assault, kidnapping, harassment, domestic violence and stalking. The person receiving the unfair treatment is called the victim. These crimes are perpetrated without prior consent and willingness of the victim as provided in the case.
In most of our conversations, especially outside justice context, assault and battery could be used interchangeably. However, in the criminal context, the two have different meanings. There is no crime describe by the phrase “assault and battery”. Notably, both assault and battery are threats to physical well-being of the victim. In assault, the victim is aware of the danger but does not suffer while in battery, the victim actually suffers the danger (Persephone, 2004) . In a criminal court, what distinguishes an assault and a battery charge is the degree, extent or the seriousness of the harm caused to the victim. In common language, the two charges could be described as misdemeanor which is usually punishable upon conviction by a small fine or short-term imprisonment or felony which is punishable by large fines or by longer imprisonment (Malcolm, 2014) . In this context, an assault would be likened to misdemeanor while a batter would be likened to felony. An expression of intent to injure or an indication of potential imminent violence constitutes assault even without physical contact. For an individual to be charged with battery, physical contact is obligatory or mandatory (Ron, 2006) . In other words, an assault is not necessarily physical and constitutes threatening while for batter, the nature of the crime is physical and is geared towards causing harm.
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In addition, an assault can inflict fear and uncontrollable unpleasant emotions due to an expectation of violence even if it doesn’t occur. Therefore, assaults affect emotional welfare of the victim even if nothing physical happened. Notably, battery extends to interference of another’s enjoyment of his property or personal space without his willingness or permission and further causes bodily harm (Frank, 2009) . For example, abusing or presenting a threat with words or verbally is considered an assault because there is no physical contact or harm but the threats lashed out of the mouth causes emotional injury, while beating a person is considered battery (Persephone, 2004) . However, the two crimes often occur together. For instance, waving or pointing a knife or an arrow towards someone would constitute assault. If the situation advances to stubbing or beating then the crime would be assault and battery. In other words, an assault can escalate to battery (Frank, 2009) . Therefore, an assault is the attempt to commit battery. Having any physical contact with the victim and causing any physical harm escalates the crime from being an assault to assault and battery. The elements of battery include the following; the act of transgression or desecration and perpetuated to inflict bodily harm or abuse to the victim by making physical substantial physical contact.
There are practical examples in our everyday life that can help us distinguish between the crimes considered as assaults and those that are considered as battery. If someone shoots an arrow at another person with an attempt of striking him, that would be considered as battery. However, if he misses to strike then the crime would be considered as an assault (Doris, 2017) . In this definition, whether the victim is aware or not of the arrow shot at him is not a matter of consideration because the intent of shooting the arrow was evil from the beginning. The major idea here is, the victim was a potential subject to harm.
When it comes to legal ramifications, both offences are considered to have criminal liability which are either defined as misdemeanor or felony depending on the extent of the damage caused or the seriousness of the injury and harm inflicted on the victim. Importantly, assault cases are very rare and they hardly stand alone in the law courts because it is very difficult to prove an assault (Malcolm, 2014) . Assaults are merely attempts to inflict harm on an individual and it would be difficult to testify with substantial evidence the motive of the other party. On the other hand, battery is easy to prove because there is physical contact and physical injury. Importantly, battery offence can contain assault because normally a battery is an escalated assault. while on the other hand, an assault cannot involve a batter (Doris, 2017) . So, sometimes an individual could be convicted of assault and battery. The legal ramification for the two crimes vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction and are dictated by the statutes.
Based on the overview given, we already understand that an individual can be convicted for both assault and battery. Also, the fundamental differences and similarities are also very clear. In the case provided, the entire scene begins as an assault. The moment the attacker suddenly jumps in front of (A) with the willingness to attack her qualifies it to be an assault. (A) was helpless, she was walking alone and probably there was nobody in the vicinity. We must acknowledge that the victim was emotionally perturbed and was unable to defend herself (Persephone, 2004) . Also, by making physical contact with (A), dragging her against her will and ripping her clothes off escalates the crime from a mere assault to battery. We also can relate that dragging the victim against her will must have taken some substantial energy and fight. Ripping her clothes off is a physical harm and should be treated as battery (Ron, 2006) . Therefore, the jurisdiction in which this crime has happened should not consider this crime as an assault due to the contact made with the victim.
The attacker’s action should be considered as battery. Previously mentioned, the man succeeds in humiliating the victim and making physical contact with her. Looking at the provisions of the federal law for criminal justice, making physical contact or touching the victim, regardless of having a weapon or not as provided in the case is considered as battery. The offender has deprived and limited the victim of her liberty and rights of walking freely (Persephone, 2004) . The case would have been considered an assault if the offender only showed the willingness or an attempt to commit a crime but did not make any contact, which is not the case. Based on the provisions of the federal law, the man’s actions guarantee a battery punishment. The man should be charged with battery offence.
Consensual touching would arise if the victim allowed with permission, without objecting or without coercion the offender to touch him and remove his clothes willingly. In such a case, there would be no actual threatening force for compelling, forcing or drugging the victim to an alley and remove her clothes. In other words, the victim would have willingly walked to the alley, removed her clothes and permitted the attacker to touch him without feeling any sense of manipulation or forcibility (Frank, 2009) . However, this was not the case. There was a substantial physical force used to compel and drug the victim to an alley depriving (A) the exercise of free will (Persephone, 2004) . Further, the victim was held against her will. Therefore, there is no basis in which any legal court would change the scenario from battery or assault into consensual touching. Every event in the scene is forcible, criminal and depreciation of another person’s right.
False imprisonment is a legal crime that occurs when an individual deprives another person the liberty to move freely on purpose and unlawfully. A common example commonly witnessed are armed robbers who walks into a counter and yells at every to lie on the floor for some time as they steal and threatens to shoot anyone who dares to move (Persephone, 2004) . Being that the captives have the right to move, however, they cannot move because they fear being killed. In such a case, they are held unlawfully and intentionally by the robbers against their will, a case of false imprisonment. Also, even legal authorities can be charged with false imprisonment if they misuse their power to detain unlawfully individuals against his will (Persephone, 2004) . Just like assault and battery, any person who willingly detains a another against his will which infringe his rights is liable to legal punishment as prescribed by law. To convict someone of false imprisonment, the following elements must be met; intentional detention, detention without permission and detention was unlawful.
It is not possible to convict someone of consensual touching. Consensual touching cannot be an offence because both the parties agree, accord and freely accept the act. If there were no any other factors considered such as intimidation or manipulation of one another then there is no crime to solve. The only concern would be at the beginning of the entire ordeal where the offender suddenly appears in front of the victim, because up to that point, the case can be considered as an assault (Ron, 2006) . However, after that point, if the events that follow are consensual touching them there is no case to answer. Thus, the offender could still be convicted on assault.
Kidnapping occurs when a person is taken and physically moved from one place to another against their will, sometimes for ransom or any other sinful and villainous objective. As opposed to false imprisonment, kidnapping is more offensive and harmful. In this regard, false imprisonment is considered as a misdemeanor and is punishable by lesser fines and imprisonment while kidnapping can be treated as a misdemeanor or a felony depending on the gravity and extent of execution (Doris, 2017) . I support the fact that kidnapping is more abominable than false imprisonment. Usually kidnapping is done for more horrible reasons and desires such as ransom and political reasons and even involves moving an individual from his own area of residence to unknown localities (Frank, 2009) . Therefore, kidnapping should be more punishable. In our contemporary setups, false imprisonment is of lesser magnitude and the damage caused is lesser, just like any other misdemeanor cases.
Irrespective of whoever we relate with, the law stipulates the rights of each person that we must respect. It is healthy to have positive arguments in the family, but this should not extend to physical abuse and infringing the rights of others (Frank, 2009) . Firstly, dragging a person to any place he does not approve of is illegal. Secondly, slapping the same person based on any ground is violence and is considered battery. Regardless of the relationship between the two, the actions of the attacker are unlawful and he is liable to legal punishment (Malcolm, 2014) . Every solution to a problem should be amicable and in full compliance with the law.
The attacker does not require to defend himself. The federal law acknowledges the right to self-defense especially if one’s life is in danger or welfare threatened. Article 51 provides the guideline that preserves the right to self-defense which the victim exploited to protect himself against the attacker who unlawful detained her (Malcolm, 2014) . One of the provision for self-defense is on imminent threat. This implies that the danger is about to happen, occur or take place as in the case provided. The attacked had ripped (A) of her clothes and the immediate threat we would think of is rape. (A) was justified by law to defend her welfare the way she did.
References
Doris, L. (n.d.). Different crimes, different criminals: Understanding, treating and preventing criminal behavior.
Frank, E. H. (2009). Crime types and criminals. SAGE punlications, Inc.
Malcolm, N. S. (2014). International law. Cambridge University Press.
Persephone, B. (2004). Crimes against the state, crimes against persons: detective fiction in Cuba and Mexico. University of Minnesota press.
Ron, G. (2006). Criminal justice: a collection of true crime cases, prentice hall's reality reading series. Pearson.
