Examples Of Non Fatal Offences

The present law on non-fatal offences can be found under the “Offences Against the Person Act 1861” and the “Criminal Justice Act 1988”. At first glance these acts seem to be comprehensive, however, they have been deemed unfit for purpose. In reality, the statute language is obsolete, which may lead courts to misinterpret parliament’s purpose. More importantly, there is no statutory definition of assault or battery, leading to further confusion as to what crimes constitute these offences. To make matters worse, an issue of disparity arises when similar crimes convicted under different sections of the act have unequal severity of consequences, arbitrating it unfair. As such, the law on non-fatal offences against the person is not fit for purpose. As the Law Commission maintains: a reform is in order.

(Give example of this leading to confusion). Professor JC Smith upholds that the law is a “rag bag of offences, put together with no thought”. Yet, the Law Commission issued a draft bill suggesting reforms to the structure. This draft replaces the offences with four clauses in order for the law to be in one place making it easier to follow and apply. For example, s.18 will be replaced by clause 1: intentionally causing serious injury to another person. Assault/battery will be replaced by clause 4. Only then could the law be fit for purpose. Yet, until today, the law that is used gives no one definition of those offences. One can only deduce from this that if the law is not defined, it can hardly be applied correctly. If this were the case, then the law would be unjust, and hence not appropriate for