Have you been the victim of a physical assault, or the perpetrator of a battery offense?

The battery offense is one of the most common crimes in practice. Since it can occur anywhere, such as a fight in a bar. Since 2015, following the reform of the Criminal Code, all battery is constitutive of a crime.

If you have been the victim of a battery offense, I want you to know that I deeply understand and comprehend your situation. In my first year of university, while celebrating a friend’s birthday, I suffered a brutal beating that left me with two scars, one on my eyebrow and another between my eyebrows.

I can still remember how that early morning, my family arrived at the hospital, distressed and not knowing what to do. Unfortunately, everything happened so quickly that, without understanding the situation well, we hired the first attorney who answered the phone to reach an agreement in which the only beneficiary was the aggressor. I don’t want the same thing that happened to me to happen to you, and therefore, with this article I hope to help you understand your situation.

What is the battery offense?

The battery offense in the Criminal Code punishes whoever impairs the physical or mental integrity of another person. This crime can be classified according to the aggressor’s intent, which distinguishes a voluntary assault as a crime

And what are the prison sentences for a battery offense?

The Criminal Code regulates the battery offense in articles 147 and following, evaluating how the criminal act was committed. Minor battery is punished with a fine of one to three months, while aggravated battery carries prison sentences.

Article 147 of the Criminal Code punishes the perpetrator of an aggravated battery offense who causes another person an injury that requires medical or surgical treatment with a sentence of up to three years in prison, which can reach up to five years in jail when a weapon or dangerous object is used to cause the injury.

This latter circumstance also occurs when the victim has no possibility of defense or the aggressor causes greater suffering than necessary through cruelty; the victim is under 14 years old or has a disability, it is committed in the context of gender-based violence or involves a person of special vulnerability who lives with the defendant.

There is a possibility that the battery is caused by negligence and not by an assault. In this case, we would be talking about battery by negligence, whose sentence varies according to the severity of the injuries. The batt