What is the difference between assault and physical battery?

The following questions were submitted to John Roska, an attorney/writer whose weekly column, “Q&A: The Law,” is published in the Champaign Gazette News.

Ask

What is the difference between assault and physical battery? What are the penalties? If I am convicted, can the criminal record be expunged?

answer

They are two different things. You can commit an assault, or a physical assault knew in English as “battery”, but they are separate and distinct crimes. There is no such crime as “assault and battery”.

The Illinois criminal code separates crimes into two main categories: “crimes against property” and “crimes against the person.”

Property crimes include things like theft, fraud, assault, arson, and disorderly conduct.

Why Is Assault Different From Battery?

The main crimes against the person include homicide, kidnapping, sexual assault, and “bodily harm”. Assault and battery are the two basic bodily harm crimes.

The code says that an assault is committed when someone “engages in behavior which places another in reasonable apprehension of receiving a physical assault.” It is a threat—real or implied—of a physical assault or an assault.

A physical assault is committed when someone “causes bodily harm to an individual”, or “makes physical contact in a provocative or offensive manner with an individual”. To be considered a criminal, the person must act “intentionally or knowingly without legal justification.”

So, intent is specifically required for a physical assault. You may not inadvertently physically assault someone. Also, Justice Holmes explains it this way, “even a dog distinguishes between tripping and being kicked.”

Although it is classified as a “bodily harm” crime, just having contact may be enough. One case says that tapping a finger on the chest is a physical assault.

Simple assault is a misdemeanor, known as a Class C misdemeanor (maximum $500 fine and 30 days in jail). Aggravated assault, including a long list of possible factors, is a more serious misdemeanor, or sometimes a felony, known as a “felony.” Some of those aggravated factors are assaults committed with a firearm, while hooded or masked, against some victims, or in some locations.

Some of the victims that can cause it to be an aggravated assault are those 60 years of age or older, teachers, coaches, and athletic officials. Some of the aggravated locations, among others, are “public property” and from NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) events.

A simple physical assault is a class A misdemeanor ($1,000 maximum fine; 6 months to 1 year in jail). Aggravated physical assault is considered if there is “great bodily harm” or if it involves an aggravating factor. Most of the factors that can aggravate an assault can also aggravate a physical assault. All aggravated physical assaults are felonies. The public ownership factor, some say, turns many simple physical assaults into felonies.

When a criminal record is expunged, it is physically destroyed. It disappears, so no one can see it anymore. That extreme remedy is only possible if there are no convictions anywhere on your record. Court supervision is not considered a conviction.

This means that supervision for misdemeanor, assault, or battery is the only record where you were ticketed, if not “sentenced” that you could possibly expunge. You cannot get supervision for a felony, and far more than supervision is the conviction that prevents the expungement of a criminal record.

Sometimes, if a record can't be erased, it can be sealed. Sealing limits a record to the general public, but leaves it accessible to Law Enforcement Authorities. Because it is less extreme than expunging a criminal record, sealing convictions for misdemeanors is often possible.

Except, you can't seal convictions for “crimes of violence” like assault and battery, even if they are misdemeanors.

If it's usually easier to seal than to erase, how can you erase a record that can't be sealed? Because your record is cleaner — there are no convictions.