Misdemeanors (Part III).

Affray is the fighting of two or more persons in a public place to the terror (in French: а l'effroi) of the lieges. The offence is a misdemeanor at English common law, punishable by fine and imprisonment. A fight in private is an assault and battery, not an affray. As those engaged in an affray render themselves also liable to prosecution for assault,

Unlawful Assembly, or Riot, it is for one of these offences that they are usually charged. Any private person may, and constables and justices must, interfere to put a stop to an affray.

The Indian Penal Code (sect. 159) adopts the English definition of affray, with the substitution of actual disturbance of the peace for causing terror to the lieges. The Queensland Criminal Code of 1889 (sect. 72) defines affray as taking part in a fight in a public highway or taking part in a fight of such a nature as to alarm the public in any other place to which the public have access.

Assault is a crime of violence against another person. In some jurisdiction, assault is used to refer to the actual violence, while in other jurisdictions (e.g. some in the United States, England and Wales), assault refers only to the threat of violence, while the actual violence is battery. Simple assaults do not involve weapons; aggravated assaults do. Assault is often defined to include not only violence, but any physical contact with another person without their consent. When assault is defined like this, exceptions are provided to cover such things as normal social intercourse (for example, patting someone on the back).

English law makes distinctions based on the degree of injury, between:

• common assault (which can be even the most minor assault)

• assault with actual body harm (ABH)

• assault with grievous body harm (GBH)

In many common law jurisdictions, the crime of battery involves an injury or other contact upon the person of another in a manner likely to cause bodily harm. Battery is often broken down into gradations for the purposes of determining the severity of punishment. For example:

• battery may include any form of non-consensual, harmful or insulting contact, regardless of the injury caused;

• Sexual battery may be defined as non-consensual touching of the intimate parts of another;

• Family violence battery may be limited in its scope between persons within a certain degree of relationship: statutes with respect to this offense have been enacted in response to increasing awareness of the problem of domestic violence;

• Aggravated battery is generally regarded as a serious offense of felony grade, involving the loss of the victim's limb or some other type of permanent disfigurement of the victim. As successor to the common law crime of mayhem, this is sometimes subsumed in the definition of aggravated assault.

Vandalism is the conspicuous defacement or destruction of a structure or symbol. It can be done as an expression of contempt, creativity, or both. Throughout history, the ritual destruction of monuments of a previous government or power has been one of the largest symbols showing the attempt at transition of power was normally expressed by erasing the name of the hated individual from inscriptions and removing or replacing statues or replacing just their heads after their death and subsequent disgrace. This is official vandalism. Private citizens commit vandalism when they willfully damage or deface the property of others or the commons. Some vandalism qualifies as culture jamming or sniggling – it is artistic in nature as well as being carried out illegally or without the property owner's permission. Examples include at least some graffiti art and billboard liberation. Criminal vandalism is often a reaction against an alienating society or is corporate gang activity.

Though vandalism in itself is illegal, it is also an integral part of modern popular culture. Graffiti tags, designs, and styles of writing are commonplace on clothing and are an influence on many of the corporate logos with which we are familiar. Many skate parks and similar youth-oriented venues are decorated with commissioned graffiti-style artwork, and in many others patrons are welcome to leave their own. There is still, however, a very fine line between vandalism as an art form, as a political statement, and as a crime.