Assault and the Legal System

For the sake of this study each case, in regards to their stage within the legal system, was classified by one of six categories: Crime, Arrest, Court, Convicted, Extralegal, and No Stage Provided. Of each of these stages, the most commonly seen stage was “Court” at 37% of the distribution. Court, in this study, can be defined as any case in which the offender is at some point in the court process prior to their conviction. This can include “Awaiting Trial”, “Arraigned”, and “Trial”. The next most common stage was “Convicted” at 23% of the distribution. These are cases in which a party was found guilty of the crime. “Convicted” can include cases determined as “Charged”, “Charged and fined” , “Paroled” , and “Convicted”. The next, also commonly seen stage is “Arrest” at 20% of the distribution. This stage is fairly self explanatory and can include any case in which a party was arrested. This stage is quite simple and includes cases which are determined as “Arrest”. The next and a lesser common stage is “Crime” with 14% of the distribution. These are cases in which the crime is committed but no one has been arrested or charged for said crime. These cases were determined by “Crime”. Finally the last two stages are tied at 3% of the distribution. These stages are “Extralegal” and “No stage determined”. “Extralegal” can be defined as instances in which the crime was handled outside of the law. The specific extralegal case featured within this project’s research is a lynching, taking place in the south.

It seems that if the distribution of cases reflects reality, at least 80% of Assault cases are somewhere in the legal system.