Defining and Registering Criminal Offences and Measures - Oapen

Bodily Injury (Assault) 41
The subsidiary questionnaire should provide for a more in-depth look at the
definition of and data availability for certain offences in the countries represented
in the ESB group. The first question was aimed at the different degrees of assault
and the way they can be identified in law and statistics. Sure it was no wonder that
assault leading to death and aggravated assault are not only punishable according
to the law of all responding countries, but also there is no request of the victim
needed to prosecute the offence.
Assault leading to bodily injury is also punishable in all responding countries.
However, as table C.3 shows, in 4 out of 8 countries (Germany, Iceland, Poland, Switzerland),
the offence is only prosecuted if the victim requests it. In Germany and
Iceland there is an exception to this rule if there is an increased public interest to
prosecute the offence. Assault without bodily injury is also punishable according to
the law of most responding countries, with the exception of Albania and the
Netherlands. This corresponds with the finding from the trial questionnaire that
many countries had to include assault only causing pain and slapping/punching
(Finland, Germany, Poland, UK: England and Wales) and sometimes also threats (Poland,
UK: England and Wales) in their assault data. Of the countries that consider
assault without injury punishable, five (Finland, Germany, Iceland, Poland, Switzerland)
out of seven countries require at least for minor cases that the victim requests
prosecution formally.
Regarding data recording, the answers imply that most countries differentiate
in their statistics between aggravated and simple assault (exception: France and on
police level also Switzerland). Assault leading to death is recorded as a separate
offence in the crime and conviction statistics of Finland, France, Germany and Poland.
In Iceland and the Netherlands, it is recorded under the category of (aggravated)
assault, while in UK: England and Wales it is considered manslaughter (i.e. a homicide
offence). In Switzerland, it is also recorded as (involuntary) homicide on convictions
level, but not recorded at all on police level. In Albania, finally, the recording
category changes between police and conviction statistics: While it is recorded
as murder in police statistics (obviously based on the outcome, without prior investigation
of the intent), the recording changes to serious (i.e.: aggravated) assault
on convictions level, since the court did not find evidence for the intent to kill.
Assault without injury is recorded separately in four (Iceland, Poland, Switzerland,
UK: England and Wales) out of seven countries on convictions level and three on
police level, since Switzerland does not count these offences there. The other countries
count these assaults (if at all) under the heading of (simple) assault.