When Does a Schoolyard Brawl Become Physical Assault?

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Fights are common among kids, but when does a simple schoolyard brawl become physical assault?

Kids battling out there problems

Photo by: zzclef
Photo by: zzclef

Many schoolyard brawls begin and end with harmless pushing and shoving, rarely escalating to punches being thrown. When the fight is mild without anybody suffering any injuries, both parties typically walk away with nothing more than hurt pride. Even when fights do intensify and leave someone with a black eye or a fat lip, it has not been common practice for the kids or their parents to press physical assault charges. .

Times are changing

With the influx of information being at our fingertips, there are a higher majority of individuals who are educated with the basics of the law and penalties for various crimes. Those kids who settled things on the schoolyard are now parents who realize they have an option of pressing charges of physical assault when their son or daughter is hit by a peer.

Bullying has opened eyes

Along with information found online, the spotlight being placed on bullying has opened the eyes of the public to the possibility that fights on the playground may be a case of bullying. With everyone more aware, there may be a rise in physical assault charges where there wouldn’t have been before. Additionally, the rise in news stories of schoolyard brawls that got out of hand are likely to make the everyone more on edge with any fight between kids.

Assault defined

While many states separate assault as being the threatening of harm and battery meaning the actual striking of another individual, Utah groups these together as simply assault. In Utah Code 76-5-102, assault is defined as:

An attempt, with unlawful force or violence, to do bodily injury to another; or
An act, committed with unlawful force or violence, that causes bodily injury to another or creates a substantial risk of bodily injury to another.

With the threat of intensifying violence among kids and possible physical assault charges looming, it is critical for kids to learn to settle their differences differently that the generation before them. Those who are facing charges for physical assault following a fight at school should seek defensive counsel immediately, as assault charges can be either a class B or a class A misdemeanor and may bring time in jail or juvenile detention.