please edit this to retain meaning, readability so that it ...

Prompt

please edit this to retain meaning, readability so that it is easy to understand while retaining structure. Criminal Justice Act 1988 s.39 Common assault and battery to be summary offences (1) Common assault and battery shall be summary offences and a person guilty of either of them shall be liable to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or to both. (2) Subsection (1) is subject to section 1 of the Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Act 2018 (which makes provision for increased sentencing powers for offences of common assault and battery committed against an emergency worker acting in the exercise of functions as such a worker). Summary only. Maximum: 6 months and/or a level 5 fine. Assault by beating is the common-law offence of battery — the application of unlawful force — charged by that name, put on a summary footing and capped by s.39 without s.39 enacting the elements (DPP v Taylor; DPP v Little [1992] QB 645; the Divisional Court's obiter view in Haystead v DPP is that it remains a common-law offence). For the assault (apprehension) limb, see [[common-assault]]. ## Elements The controlling question is whether D intentionally or recklessly applied unlawful force to another. Assault by beating is the touching offence — any non-consensual contact, however slight — as distinct from common assault, which is causing another to apprehend immediate force (see [[common-assault]]). Injury is not an element. 1. **Application of unlawful force to another, however slight.** Any touching of another without consent is on its face a battery; the force need only be the slightest, and spitting is enough (Collins v Wilcock [1984] 1 WLR 1172). There is no additional requirement of hostility beyond the absence of consent or other lawful justification. 2. **Implied consent for the contacts of everyday life.** Not every touch is unlawful: consent is implied for the ordinary contacts of daily living — jostling in a crowd, a handshake, back-slapping, a tap on the shoulder to gain attention — where no more force is used than is reasonably necessary in the circumstances. Grabbing another to restrain them goes beyond that licence (Collins v Wilcock). 3. **A continuing act can be a battery.** Where the initial contact is inadvertent, the offence is committed if D, realising the contact, fails to desist: driving onto another's foot and then deliberately leaving it there is one continuing act in which mens rea and actus reus coincide (Fagan v Metropolitan Police Commissioner [1969] 1 QB 439). ## Mens Rea Intention, or recklessness, as to the application of unlawful force (R v Venna [1976] QB 421). The recklessness required is subjective (Cunningham-type), not objective: D is reckless only where he foresaw a risk that his conduct would apply unlawful force to another and went on to take that risk when it was, in the circumstances known to him, unreasonable to do so; inadvertence is not enough, and D's age and mental capacity bear on whether he foresaw the risk (R v Cunningham [1957] 2 QB 396; R v G [2003] UKHL 50, which overruled the objective Caldwell test). Assault by beating is a basic-intent offence, so self-induced intoxication is no defence (DPP v Majewski [1977] AC 443). ## Defences **Consent.** A complete defence to battery where the touching sits within a recognised category — the everyday contacts already described, properly conducted sports and games, surgery and similar lawful activity. Consent is not generally available once the force reaches actual bodily harm (R v Brown [1994] 1 AC 212). **Self-defence or defence of another.** Once raised on the evidence, the prosecution must disprove that D used force in circumstances as D honestly believed them to be, and that the force was reasonable (Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008, s.76). **Prevention of crime.** A person may use such force as is reasonable in the circumstances in the prevention of crime, or in effecting or assisting the lawful arrest of offenders or suspected offenders (Criminal Law Act 1967, s.3). **Lawful correction of a child.** In England, a parent or person in loco parentis has a defence to battery (and common assault) where the punishment was moderate and reasonable, judged by its nature and context, duration, physical and mental effects on the child, the child's age and characteristics, and the reasons given (Children Act 2004, s.58; R v H [2001] EWCA Crim 1024). Abolished in Wales (Children (Abolition of Defence of Reasonable Punishment) (Wales) Act 2020). Not available to s.47. ## Notes for Practitioners Charge label. Where the contact limb is relied on, the charge is assault by beating, not "battery" (DPP v Taylor; DPP v Little [1992] QB 645; CPS prosecution guidance — Offences against the Person incorporating the Charging Standard). A charge framed simply as "assault" may nonetheless result in conviction of assault by beating on the same facts. Start with the charging ladder: confirm this really is a bare battery and not a neighbour with a higher maximum — common assault (apprehension only, [[common-assault]]), s.47 Offences against the Person Act 1861, s.89 Police Act 1996 (assault on a constable), s.1 Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Act 2018 (either way, maximum 2 years, or 1 year for offences before 28 June 2022), or s.29 Crime and Disorder Act 1998 (racially or religiously aggravated, either way, maximum 2 years). Any injury beyond the transient and trifling is usually s.47, not s.39. Consent and implied consent are the live issues on a battery charge: the boundary is whether the contact stayed within the everyday licence beyond which it becomes unlawful (Collins v Wilcock). Spitting, pushing and grabbing all qualify as battery; presentation of a hand for shaking does not. Fix the time limit. A bare battery is summary only and the information must be laid within 6 months of the offence (Magistrates' Courts Act 1980, s.127). In a domestic-abuse case s.39A CJA 1988 extends that: proceedings may be begun within 2 years of the offence and within 6 months of the complainant first giving a s.9 statement or ABE interview. It does not apply to offences committed before commencement of Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, s.49, and "domestic abuse" bears the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, s.1 meaning. If the issue is whether the officer or emergency worker was acting in the execution of duty, invite or preserve a bare s.39 battery alternative (CPS prosecution guidance — Offences against the Person incorporating the Charging Standard). This offence is not: - Common assault — the apprehension of immediate force, not the application of it — see [[common-assault]]. - Assault occasioning actual bodily harm (s.47 OAPA 1861) — requires injury that is more than transient and trifling. - Assault on a constable (s.89 Police Act 1996) or assault on an emergency worker (s.1 AEW 2018). - Racially or religiously aggravated common assault (s.29 Crime and Disorder Act 1998). See also: [[common-assault]], [[assault-occasioning-actual-bodily-harm]], [[assault-on-emergency-worker]], [[assault-police-constable]], [[racially-religiously-aggravated-common-assault]]. ## Sentencing Guideline Definitive Guideline: Common assault / Racially or religiously aggravated common assault / Battery / Common assault on emergency worker (Sentencing Council, effective 1 July 2021). Live page checked 12 September 2026. Plain s.39 battery (assault by beating): triable only summarily, maximum 6 months, offence range discharge to 26 weeks. Do not paste the 2-year emergency-worker or racially aggravated uplift figures onto a bare s.39 charge: the aggravated and emergency-worker offences are separate charges carrying their own maximums and a Step 3 uplift. ### Culpability A — High: intention to cause fear of serious harm (including disease transmission); victim obviously vulnerable; prolonged or persistent assault; substantial force; strangulation, suffocation or asphyxiation; threatened or actual use of a weapon or weapon equivalent; leading role in group activity. B — Lesser: lesser role in group activity; mental disorder or learning disability linked to the offence; excessive self-defence; all other cases. ### Harm 1 — more than minor physical or psychological harm or distress 2 — minor physical or psychological harm or distress 3 — no or very low physical harm or distress ### Starting points and ranges (plain s.39) | Harm | A | B | |---|---|---| | **1** | High level community order (Low level CO – 26 weeks) | Medium level CO (Low level CO – 16 weeks) | | **2** | Medium level CO (Low level CO – 16 weeks) | Low level CO (Band C fine – High level CO) | | **3** | Low level CO (Band C fine – High level CO) | Band C fine (Discharge – Low level CO) | ### Offence-Specific Mitigation - Significant provocation - Lapse of time since the offence - Excessive self-defence (sits in culpability B) ### Offence-Specific Aggravation - Offence committed against a person providing a public service or performing a public duty, or in a domestic-abuse context - Deliberate spitting or coughing - Presence of children - Offence committed in prison