ABSTRACT

In this chapter we shall consider all those offences which involve injury or harm to the victim’s body or person but do not result in death. The sexual offences are found in the Sexual Offences Act 2003. The non-sexual assaults are found in the 1861 Offences against the Person Act. It is remarkable that a piece of legislation nearly 150 years old still represents the law in this area. Indeed, many people feel that it is beginning to show its age, with the courts struggling to use it to deal with some contemporary problems which the drafters of the legislation would not have had in mind: silent phone calls, stalking, transmitting HIV. The reluctance to reform the law, however, indicates the controversial nature of some of the issues raised.