Types
Below are some forms of violent crimes outlawed by governmental legal entities:[citation needed]
Type Meaning
Abuse To exploit or harm a vulnerable person
Child abuse Cruelty to children; the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child defines children as persons under 18 except when national law defines a younger age. However even in states where the age of majority is 18 child abuse may be defined differently; in England and Wales, the Children and Young Persons Act uses the age of sixteen.
Sexual abuse The act of injuring a person during sexual activity without mutual consent for the gratification of the abuser.
Child sexual abuse When an adult forces a minor to engage in sexual activity, especially without regard for the mental, emotional, and physical well-being of the child who, by government law, cannot consent since it is believed that anyone under the age of consent does not have the physical and emotional maturity to understand sexual acts in an adult fashion.
Child-on-child sexual abuse When a minor abuses another child sexually. No adult is involved.
Assault and battery An assault involving actual bodily contact
Assault An unlawful physical attack upon another or threat to do violence to another
Aggravated assault Assault with the use of weapons or in other circumstances beyond the realm of normal assault
Sexual assault When a person—regardless of gender—forcefully engages another person in sexual activity without mutual consent.
Battery An unlawful attack upon another person by beating or wounding, or by touching in an offensive manner
Aggravated battery
Sexual battery
Cruelty to animals A cruel act upon an animal
Domestic violence Acts of violence against a person living in one's household or a member of one's immediate family
Harassment
Sexual harassment
Homicide The killing of another human being
Murder Homicide in certain prescribed conditions
Aggravated murder This is defined very differently in different jurisdictions. It can cover parricide, the murder of a family member, especially in Catholic majority countries; it can also include murder followed by necrophilia or desecration/mutilation of the corpse, racially motivated murder, use of an explosive, killing as part of a campaign of sedition or terrorism, or killing of a law enforcement officer (policeman, prosecutor, prison officer, judge)
Sexual murder Murder with a paraphiliac motive or to cover up a sex crime. This is not usually a separate offence but is often considered more serious than other forms of murder and is very likely to incur the death penalty in jurisdictions that retain it, or the maximum term of imprisonment allowed in those that do not.
Property damage Damage to another's property (i.e.: breaking of things, burning, or harming in a devastating manner)
Rape The unlawful compelling of someone through physical force or duress to have sexual intercourse
Statutory rape Consensual sexual relations between an adult and a person below the local age of consent.
Robbery Use of force or threat of force in the commission of theft.