{"id":12308,"date":"2015-02-27T07:11:54","date_gmt":"2015-02-27T07:11:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nationalpardon.org\/?p=12308"},"modified":"2015-02-27T07:11:54","modified_gmt":"2015-02-27T07:11:54","slug":"charged-assault","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.nationalpardon.org\/?p=12308","title":{"rendered":"Charged With Assault?"},"content":{"rendered":"

We frequently see assault charges on our clients\u2019 criminal records<\/a>. This is\u00a0not\u00a0surprising because assault is by far the most common violent crime in Canada. Part of the reason assault is so common is because it\u2019s an extremely broad term and can refer to so many different things.<\/p>\n

As far as the criminal code is concerned there are a number of different kinds of assault. The least serious is just called \u201cassault\u201d although sometimes it is referred to as \u201csimple assault\u201d or \u201ccommon assault.\u201d<\/p>\n

This offence happens any time someone intentionally applies unwanted physical force on another person. So it can include everything from shoving somebody or physically restraining them to punching or kicking them.<\/p>\n

In fact, this simple assault doesn\u2019t need to involve any physical contact at all \u2013 a threatening gesture or attempt to use force can lead to an assault charge \u2013 but in practice this is unusual. The vast majority of assault charges involve some kind of physical contact.<\/p>\n

Simple assault charges usually lead to summary convictions that sometimes involve a short stay in jail. But usually the sentence is a probation order and a promise to stay away from the other person.<\/p>\n

For first-time offenders, these kinds of charges are sometimes resolved without a conviction at all. It\u2019s not unusual for the charge to be withdrawn if the accused agrees to stay out of trouble for a certain period of time (this is called a \u201cpeace bond\u201d). But even if the charge is withdrawn, it will remain on the offender\u2019s record unless he or she takes steps to remove it.<\/p>\n

The next category of assault includes \u201cassault with a weapon\u201d and \u201cassault causing bodily harm.\u201d These are somewhat self-explanatory but let\u2019s take a look anyway.<\/p>\n

The first category means a weapon was involved in some way, even if it wasn\u2019t actually used. For example, if you\u2019re in a bar fight and you throw a bottle at another person, you could be charged with assault with a weapon even if the bottle didn\u2019t hit anyone.<\/p>\n

The second one means the person was physically injured in some way. It could be as simple as a black eye. It doesn\u2019t mean serious injuries like broken bones, which fall into the next category. Obviously, offences in this category can be more serious than simple assault. But this isn\u2019t always the case. A lot of people receive summary convictions for these offences, so if you\u2019ve been convicted of assault with a weapon or assault causing bodily harm, don\u2019t assume that the conviction was by indictment.<\/p>\n

The final category of assault is \u201caggravated assault.\u201d This is the most serious form of assault and it is rare \u2013 according to Stats Canada only 1.5% of all assaults in 2013 were aggravated assault. This kind of thing involves serious injury, including broken bones, serious wounds requiring stitches and abuse that endangers the victim\u2019s life.<\/p>\n

Someone convicted of this offence will be punished by indictment, they are probably going to spend some time in jail and they will require rehabilitation.<\/p>\n

There is a separate category of assault when it involves a police officer on duty, which is called \u201cassaulting a peace officer.\u201d It goes without saying that acting in an aggressive or violent way toward a police officer is one of dumbest things anyone can do and courts hand down harsh sentences to anyone that acts in that way. But contrary to popular belief, assaulting a peace officer is not always considered a serious offence and it can be punished either summarily or by indictment.<\/p>\n

In Canadian law there is no specific charge for resisting arrest, so anytime someone is being placed under arrest and a scuffle takes place, the person being arrested is likely to be charged with assaulting a peace officer. This often leads to a relatively light sentence. But if the person isn\u2019t found guilty of the other charges, they may find themselves with a criminal record just because they were unwilling to cooperate with the police officer.<\/p>\n

If you have been charged with assault or any other crime give us a call and we would be happy to explain your options for dealing with it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We frequently see assault charges on our clients\u2019 criminal records. This is\u00a0not\u00a0surprising because assault is by far the most common violent crime in Canada. Part of the reason assault is so common is because it\u2019s an extremely broad term and can refer to so many different things. As far as the criminal code is concerned […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12309,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,6],"tags":[69,70,71,11],"class_list":["post-12308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-criminal-records","category-pardon","tag-arrest","tag-assault","tag-courts","tag-criminal-record"],"yoast_head":"\nCharged With Assault? - staging.nationalpardon.org<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Looking at the different kind of assault charges in Canada and common results of such a charge in court.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Charged With Assault? - staging.nationalpardon.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Looking at the different kind of assault charges in Canada and common results of such a charge in court.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.nationalpardon.org\/?p=12308\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"staging.nationalpardon.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-02-27T07:11:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"National Pardon\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"National Pardon\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/staging.nationalpardon.org\\\/?p=12308#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/staging.nationalpardon.org\\\/?p=12308\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"National Pardon\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/staging.nationalpardon.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7d8875ab66fc730533e59e05d71b75ba\"},\"headline\":\"Charged With Assault?\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-02-27T07:11:54+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/staging.nationalpardon.org\\\/?p=12308\"},\"wordCount\":708,\"commentCount\":8,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/staging.nationalpardon.org\\\/?p=12308#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"keywords\":[\"Arrest\",\"Assault\",\"Courts\",\"criminal record\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Criminal Records\",\"Pardon\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/staging.nationalpardon.org\\\/?p=12308#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/staging.nationalpardon.org\\\/?p=12308\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/staging.nationalpardon.org\\\/?p=12308\",\"name\":\"Charged With Assault? - staging.nationalpardon.org\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/staging.nationalpardon.org\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/staging.nationalpardon.org\\\/?p=12308#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/staging.nationalpardon.org\\\/?p=12308#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-02-27T07:11:54+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/staging.nationalpardon.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7d8875ab66fc730533e59e05d71b75ba\"},\"description\":\"Looking at the different kind of assault charges in Canada and common results of such a charge in court.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/staging.nationalpardon.org\\\/?p=12308#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/staging.nationalpardon.org\\\/?p=12308\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/staging.nationalpardon.org\\\/?p=12308#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"\",\"contentUrl\":\"\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/staging.nationalpardon.org\\\/?p=12308#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/staging.nationalpardon.org\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Charged With Assault?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/staging.nationalpardon.org\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/staging.nationalpardon.org\\\/\",\"name\":\"staging.nationalpardon.org\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/staging.nationalpardon.org\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/staging.nationalpardon.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7d8875ab66fc730533e59e05d71b75ba\",\"name\":\"National Pardon\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d55e3ad3ac775d0424d0fabd5ee073c9b71cd7bd352610bb4cc4ff574dc748fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d55e3ad3ac775d0424d0fabd5ee073c9b71cd7bd352610bb4cc4ff574dc748fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d55e3ad3ac775d0424d0fabd5ee073c9b71cd7bd352610bb4cc4ff574dc748fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"National Pardon\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/staging.nationalpardon.org\\\/?author=2\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Charged With Assault? - staging.nationalpardon.org","description":"Looking at the different kind of assault charges in Canada and common results of such a charge in court.","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Charged With Assault? - staging.nationalpardon.org","og_description":"Looking at the different kind of assault charges in Canada and common results of such a charge in court.","og_url":"https:\/\/staging.nationalpardon.org\/?p=12308","og_site_name":"staging.nationalpardon.org","article_published_time":"2015-02-27T07:11:54+00:00","author":"National Pardon","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"National Pardon","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/staging.nationalpardon.org\/?p=12308#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.nationalpardon.org\/?p=12308"},"author":{"name":"National Pardon","@id":"https:\/\/staging.nationalpardon.org\/#\/schema\/person\/7d8875ab66fc730533e59e05d71b75ba"},"headline":"Charged With Assault?","datePublished":"2015-02-27T07:11:54+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.nationalpardon.org\/?p=12308"},"wordCount":708,"commentCount":8,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.nationalpardon.org\/?p=12308#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"","keywords":["Arrest","Assault","Courts","criminal record"],"articleSection":["Criminal Records","Pardon"],"inLanguage":"en-CA","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/staging.nationalpardon.org\/?p=12308#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/staging.nationalpardon.org\/?p=12308","url":"https:\/\/staging.nationalpardon.org\/?p=12308","name":"Charged With Assault? - staging.nationalpardon.org","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.nationalpardon.org\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.nationalpardon.org\/?p=12308#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.nationalpardon.org\/?p=12308#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"","datePublished":"2015-02-27T07:11:54+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.nationalpardon.org\/#\/schema\/person\/7d8875ab66fc730533e59e05d71b75ba"},"description":"Looking at the different kind of assault charges in Canada and common results of such a charge in court.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.nationalpardon.org\/?p=12308#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-CA","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/staging.nationalpardon.org\/?p=12308"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-CA","@id":"https:\/\/staging.nationalpardon.org\/?p=12308#primaryimage","url":"","contentUrl":""},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/staging.nationalpardon.org\/?p=12308#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/staging.nationalpardon.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Charged With Assault?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/staging.nationalpardon.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/staging.nationalpardon.org\/","name":"staging.nationalpardon.org","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/staging.nationalpardon.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-CA"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/staging.nationalpardon.org\/#\/schema\/person\/7d8875ab66fc730533e59e05d71b75ba","name":"National Pardon","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-CA","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d55e3ad3ac775d0424d0fabd5ee073c9b71cd7bd352610bb4cc4ff574dc748fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d55e3ad3ac775d0424d0fabd5ee073c9b71cd7bd352610bb4cc4ff574dc748fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d55e3ad3ac775d0424d0fabd5ee073c9b71cd7bd352610bb4cc4ff574dc748fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"National Pardon"},"url":"https:\/\/staging.nationalpardon.org\/?author=2"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.nationalpardon.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.nationalpardon.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.nationalpardon.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.nationalpardon.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.nationalpardon.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12308"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging.nationalpardon.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12308\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.nationalpardon.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.nationalpardon.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.nationalpardon.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.nationalpardon.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}