Defining and Registering Criminal Offences and Measures - Oapen

Bodily Injury (Assault) 45
Another question was aimed at the aggravating circumstances for assault according
to criminal law (table C.4). Most commonly, use of weapons or dangerous
objects and life-threatening injuries are mentioned as aggravating circumstances
(both in 8 out of 9 responding countries). In 7 out of 9 countries, grave injuries
are sufficient, too. Also in 7 out of 9 countries, causing the loss / paralysis of bodily
parts or disfiguration and causing mental illness / dementia are aggravating
circumstances. The special vulnerability of certain types of victims is an aggravating
circumstance in only 4 countries (Albania, France, Poland, Switzerland). There are
also various other aggravating circumstances according to the criminal law of responding
countries, as the answers in the “other” box show.
4. Final questionnaire and evaluation
Since the definition of (aggravated) bodily injury (assault) proved to work well
during the trial phase, there were no changes applied for the final questionnaire
with the exception of a slight editorial change in the “minor assault” line (see the
part on criminal offences total for an explanation):
Bodily injury (assault): inflicting bodily injury on another person with intent (TOTAL)
Indicate whether included or
excluded:
in pol. stats. in conv.
stats.
incl. excl. incl. excl.
Include the following:
minor bodily injury (even if subject to proceedings outside
the criminal justice system)
aggravated bodily injury
bodily injury of a public servant/official
domestic violence
attempts
Exclude the following:
assault leading to death
threats (except in the case of an attempt)
assault only causing pain
slapping or punching
sexual assault