| The following page contains a complete listing of violent crimes excluding all those that are sexually related. The crimes are listed by degree of severity beginning with the most minor at the top and ending with the most severe. Severity is ranked based upon the penalties associated with the crime; in cases where penalties are identical severity is ranked based upon which crime usually draws a higher sentence. The paragraphs in italics are the actual text quoted directly from the California State Penal Code 2002 Edition. Note that every state has slightly varying laws regarding definitions and sentences. |
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| 1. A Word About Assault (CAPCS 240-241.7) | 2. Mayhem (CAPCS 203-206.1) | ||
| 3. Battery (CAPCS 187-199) | 4. Homicide (CAPCS 187-199) |
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A Word About Assault (CAPCS 240-241.7) It might surprise you to learn that the crime of assault has nothing to do with actually striking or injuring another person. In common usage today, the word "assault" is used most often to describe the actual hits and blows as well as the resulting wounds. However, in legal terms, assault is simply the act of attempting to injure another: 240. Assault Defined. An assault is an unlawful attempt, coupled with a present ability, to commit a violent injury on the person of another.The "present ability" meaning being physically able to carry out the attempt. Whether or not the injury actually occurs is irrelevant. There are many different categories of assault each defined by what instrument is used, and by whom is being assaulted. Higher penalties result from "Assault With a Deadly Weapon" then from one with fists. An assault against a law enforcement officer or an on-duty public employee or official will land you a much larger sentence than attempting to brutalize some schmuck working at 7-11. Though assault is not a violent crime itself, since it always occurs directly before a violent crime it plays an important factor in determining in to exactly which legal category the resulting crime falls. Back to Top (CAPCS 203-206.1) Mayhem represents an extremely horrendous group of violent crimes involving the intentional removal, disabling, or disfiguring of a body part or appendage: 203. Mayhem Defined. Every person who unlawfully and maliciously deprives a human being of a member of his body, or disables, disfigures, or renders it useless, or cuts or disables the tongue, or puts out an eye, or slits the nose, ear, or lip, is guilty of mayhem.Acts such as these usually fall into the criminal enterprise category of crime. Cutting off someone's fingers one by one, for example, is a not too uncommon method of extracting information. Slicing out a person's tongue if they've insulted someone or spoken to authorities is a practice used often by the Columbian drug cartels because of the symbolic significance it carries. Anyone who has seen Jack Nicholson's involuntary rhinoplasty in the movie Chinatown understands how slicing someone's nose can really motivate. Of course, mayhem is also committed for sheer sadistic pleasure by a small group of individuals or as the result of some other aberrant psychological problem. Other motives may exist as well, but it is unclear what these might be. There are two subcategories of mayhem: aggravated mayhem and torture. 205. Aggravated Mayhem. A person is guilty of aggravated mayhem when he or she unlawfully, under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the physical or psychological well-being of another person, intentionally causes permanent disability or disfigurement of another human being or deprives a human being of a limb, organ, or member of his or her body. For purposes of this section, it is not necessary to prove an intent to kill. Aggravated mayhem is a felony punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for life with the possibility of parole.Aggravated mayhem is basically just an extremely grievous form of mayhem with no remorse or conscious shown whatsoever by the offender both during the attack and after. Torture is basically just a prolonged form of mayhem in which the types of wounds inflicted are primarily designed to produce physical pain in the victim. Interestingly enough, even if it can't be proven that the victim felt pain -- or even if it is proven that the victim felt no pain -- the court can decide whether or not it feels that the victim's wounds look as if their intended primary function was to produce pain. Back to Top (CAPCS 187-199) "Homicide" refers to any person taking the life of another or causing the death of a fetus. The only exception to this rule is legal abortions. Homicide is not always a criminal matter, such as when it is done completely by accident by a party who is observing caution and not partaking in any other criminal matter, or when done in self defense (though civil action might still be taken in some cases). Homicide becomes a criminal matter when either intent or negligence is involved; and the distinction between the two is what separates criminal homicide into its two categories: Murder -- homicide with malicious intent -- and Manslaughter -- homicide through negligence. While much additional terminology is used, it is basically malicious intent and negligence that are the determining factor. 187. Murder Defined. Murder is the unlawful killing of a human being, or a fetus, with malice aforethought.Basically, if you do it on purpose and you're not defending yourself or another you commit murder. The term "malice" does not necessarily denote hatred or anger, but rather making a conscious decision to take a life illegally. Hence why so many people with severe mental illness are still found sane to stand trial; they can still appreciate the nature of their actions. However, the exact nature of the "malice aforethough" breaks murder into its two categories: 189. All murder which is perpetrated by means of a destructive device or explosive, a weapon of mass destruction, knowing use of ammunition designed primarily to penetrate metal or armor, poison, lying in wait, torture, or by any other kind of willful, deliberate, and premeditated killing, or which is committed in the perpetration of, or attempt to perpetrate, arson, rape, carjacking, robbery, burglary, mayhem, kidnapping, train wrecking, or any act punishable under Section 206, 286, 288, 288a, or 289, or any murder which is perpetrated by means of discharging a firearm from a motor vehicle, intentionally at another person outside of the vehicle with the intent to inflict death, is murder of the first degree. All other kinds of murders are of the second degree . . .Once again, there are harsher penalties issues if the victim is a police officer or if the murder is committed in conjunction with another crime. There is even a set of harsher penalities for hate crime murders. It is interesting that modern day society values intent so much. Past societies concentrated mainly upon the outcome of a crime rather than the exact frame of mind the killer was in at the time he committed the crime. Whether the weapon was a firearm or a pillow really did not matter; if the victim was dead he was dead. There was no concept of a first or second degree -- in other words, two different versions, both being intentional, of a crime that results in death -- and most certainly no difference in penalties. The distinction between the two are just as ambiguous today; the sentence of Second Degree Murder is usually the result of a clever lawyer or plea bargain. The debate on the exact specifics and punishments for criminal homicide continues today. The newer "enlightened" view is that crime is a result of social and economic factors and criminals should be given a chance to change their ways. The societies of old were barbaric -- and truly, many were. Horse theft and homosexuality were capital crimes right here in American little more than a hundred years ago. The second form of Homicide, and the punishments it carries, is a constant subject of debate between the two sides. 192. Manslaughter. |