In criminal law, an offence against the person usually refers to a crime which is committed by direct physical harm or force being applied to another person.
Offences against the person are usually taken to comprise:
Although most sexual offences will also be offences against the person, [3] for various reasons (including sentencing and registration of offenders) sexual crimes are usually categorised separately. Similarly, although many homicides also involve an offence against the person, they are usually categorised under the more serious category.
Footnotes
^ Often referred to as administration of a noxious substance in legal parlance.
^ Some legal systems have two separate crimes: occasioning grievous bodily harm, and intentionally inflicting grievous bodily harm.
^ For example, it would be legally impossible to rape another person without also committing a battery against them
