Assault can be either a crime against a person (a criminal offense) or a tort (a civil offense). Popular discussions as well as legal actions relating to assault, however, typically refer to the criminal form. Although definitions can vary considerably, including the penalties associated with it, assault typically involves a “simple assault” (attempting to cause or purposely, knowingly, or recklessly causing bodily injury to another) or an aggravated assault (negligently causing bodily injury to another with a deadly weapon). Particularly when relating to adolescents, the category of sexual assault is of significance, as it can encompass forcible rape, forcible sodomy, sexual assault with an object, and forcible fondling.
In the United States, official crime reports reveal simple assault to be the most common of all crimes against persons and to be the most common crime against adolescents (see, e.g., Rand 2009). Simple assault constitutes 41% of all offenses against juveniles, and...
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References
Finkelhor, D., & Ormod, R. (2000). Characteristics of crimes against juveniles. U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice programs, office of juvenile justice and delinquency prevention. U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, DC. Retrieved December 29, 2010, from http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/179034.pdf
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Levesque, R.J.R. (2011). Assault. In: Levesque, R.J.R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Adolescence. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1695-2_664
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