Crimes Against Persons

Estimated reading time: 7 minutes

Crimes Against Persons include for example, murder, rape and assault. The victims are all persons. A person was present.

Object defines category: crimes against persons

The object of Crimes Against Property, is property. For example, theft, bribery, and burglary, are Crimes Against Property. The objective of these crimes is money, property, or some other benefit.

And our third category, Public Order Crimes or Prohibition Crimes, includes prostitution, gambling, and possession of contraband, like certain drugs or a firearm without a serial number (privately made firearm). These represent criminal prohibitions against certain types of activity. But they are victimless “crimes,” and property is not the object. And they tend to be about government efforts to control and divide the People, for example, drug prohibition laws.

Crimes Against Persons

Policy-makers have categorized crimes for hundreds of years. These are the three categories that dominate the discussion in American and English law. We find them useful. But they are not perfect.

The best definition of “crimes against persons” may be “crimes where a person is a victim, that don’t involve only property.”

How should we categorize robbery? Robbery is a crime against a person since by definition a robbery includes violence or the threat of violence against a person. It also could be called a property crime, since the object of the crime is to get money or other property. But since violence to persons is worse than property loss, we call robbery a crime against persons.

Burglary is an example of a category buster. If a burglar steals from an empty building, we have a property crime. But if a person is in the building, we have a crime against a person. And, what about a burglary of a building but the burglar didn’t know a person was in it? When we analyze Minnesota Statutes on burglary, we can see that the severity of the punishments reflects these concerns.

We generally view “Crimes Against Persons” as more serious than “Property Crimes.” And the criminal laws reflect that. too. So, though these categories are not clean and perfect, we find them useful.

Three Categories of Crimes Against Persons

We traditionally divide “Crimes Against Persons” into three categories:

1. Homicide offenses
2. Sexual offenses
3. Non-fatal, non-sexual offenses

Homicide Offenses

A “homicide” is when a person causes the death of another person. Of course, most homicides are not crimes. Motor vehicle accidents resulting in death are rarely crimes, for example. Yet some homicides are the result of a criminal act. These range from murder, to manslaughter, to Criminal Vehicular Homicide.

While their common element is a human caused death, the severity of these crimes varies with the level of criminal intent. For example, premeditated, intentional murder is a more serious crime than a grossly negligent DWI resulting in a death. They range from premeditated murder, to a car accident with gross negligence and a death.

“Homicide” is not always a crime. Any time a person causes another’s death, there is a homicide. That’s the definition of the word, “homicide.”

So non-criminal homicides or deaths caused by a person include:

• accidental deaths,
• suicides, and
• deaths following lawful self-defense.

Types of criminal homicide, murder charges

A homicide is a crime only when a statute creates a criminal law remedy (prison), including:

• Murder (alleged to be caused by defendant)
• “Felony Murder” (not alleged to be caused by defendant)
• Manslaughter
• Criminal Vehicular Homicide

Legal Defenses to Criminal Homicide, Murder Charges

• Accident (simple negligence)
• Intent Defenses
• Suicide
• Causation
• Self-Defense & Defense-of-Another
• Identity
• Duress Defense | Complete or Partial

Specific Criminal Homicide laws: murder charges

Murder 1st Degree, Minn. Stat. §609.185

• Life sentence if convicted.
• Premeditated murder with specific intent, or
• death while committing certain, listed other crimes, or
• death of on-duty police officer or prison guard with specific intent, or
• extreme indifference causing death of a minor where past pattern of abuse; or of another where past pattern domestic abuse.

So, First Degree includes more than just premeditated murder.

Murder 2nd Degree, Minn. Stat. §609.19

• A murder with specific intent, or
• Drive-by shooting, or
• Felony murder (no specific intent), or
• Murder (no specific intent) of a person protected by restraining order.

“Felony murder” is controversial. It’s when someone dies during a felony crime even though the defendant did not cause the death. So, the punishment does not fit the crime.

Murder 3rd Degree, Minn. Stat. §609.195

• Murder (general intent), or
• via certain drugs.

Murder via drugs is another questionable crime. It grafts civil products liability law principles into criminal law. It makes people criminally responsible for deaths caused by the negligence of others.

Manslaughter 1st Degree, Minn. Stat. §609.20

• causing death in heat of passion following qualified provocation, or
• misdemeanor assault plus reasonably foreseeable death or great bodily harm, or
• causing death coerced by threats of imminent death by non-co-conspirator, or
• causing death via certain drugs, or
• malicious punishment of child plus death.

Manslaughter is about gross negligence causing a death. Or at least it should be. But today some manslaughter cases are weak on either the negligence or the causation elements.

Manslaughter 2nd Degree, Minn. Stat. §609.205, death caused by

• culpable negligence plus specific intent of risk of death or great bodily harm, or
• shooting gun or other weapon negligently believing other was a deer or animal, or
• setting spring gun, pit fall, snare, trap, or
• negligently permitting dangerous animal to run uncontrolled off premises, unconfined.

Second degree manslaughter attempts to describe less severe crimes. But there still must be serious negligence plus a death.

Criminal Vehicular Homicide, Minn. Stat. §609.21

• Injury or Death of another, and:
• As a result of operating a motor vehicle with:
• Gross Negligence, or
• Simple Negligence plus DWI or Hit-and-Run.

The formula: A car, plus [negligence and DWI, or hit and run], or [gross negligence], plus a death equals Criminal Vehicular Homicide. But some states call it Vehicular Manslaughter.

Sexual Offenses

Most sex crime laws involve a victim who is present at the time of the crime. These are crimes against persons. But whether an identifiable victim is present at the time of the crime; is questionable for some sex crimes.

We have three act-based categories of sex crimes:

• Penetration
• Touch (contact)
• Non-touch (e.g., child porn)

We also categorize sex crimes based on level of criminal intent (force vs. age-based), and level of harm (injury vs. consensual). See:

Sex Crimes and Defenses

Age-Based Sex Crimes

Innocent | False Sex Charges

Non-fatal, non-sexual offenses

This is the “other” category of crimes against person. The most common non-fatal, non-sexual offense is Assault. And the most common assault charges today are domestic assault charges.

But other examples of these Crimes Against Persons include:

• Assault with a weapon (Assault Second Degree)
• Robbery
• Kidnapping, Abduction, False Imprisonment

The severity of these Crimes Against Persons varies with the level of criminal intent and the level of harm caused. See:

Minnesota Domestic Assault Defense

False accusations, problems of proof

People sometimes make false allegations. Sometimes they do so intentionally. They seek to fool the police and make the prosecutors their weapon. But often false allegations are the result of human error. We are all subject to cognitive bias and error in perception and recollection. Yet we are completely unaware.

The jury will only see the available evidence that the judge allows. You know you’re innocent. But someone testifies falsely against you.

The result? The courts do convict innocent people for crimes they did not do. It happens every day. And because Crimes Against Persons are the most serious crimes, a person facing these charges needs serious criminal defense help.

Question? Call Attorney Thomas Gallagher, 612 333-1500

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