A Brief Overview of Different Domestic Crimes

The Georgia legal code lays out criteria for different domestic crimes, and when these crimes escalate from misdemeanors to felonies.

• Assault: A simple assault is one in which one person attempts to violently injure another person, or acts in such a way that the other person has a reasonable expectation they will be violently injured in the immediate future. An aggravated assault is one in which the perpetrator intends to rob, rape or murder. It may also include a deadly weapon or any other object that may cause severe bodily harm.
• Battery: Simple battery occurs when a person causes substantial or visible physical harm to another person. Aggravated battery includes maliciously injury by: rendering a body part useless, depriving a person of a body part entirely or causing severe disfigurement.
• False imprisonment/kidnapping: False imprisonment includes confining a person against their will, and without legal authority. Often, this is done so through threat and/or force. Kidnapping is a more serious form of false imprisonment. It involves abducting someone with force and moving them, even just from one apartment to the one next door.
• Stalking: When one person follows another, places them under unlawful surveillance or contacts them with the purpose of harassment, it is considered stalking. This may be done physically/in person or through online means, such as social media or email. When a person violates a protection order, they may also be charged with stalking.
• Criminal trespass: This crime is rather self-explanatory, at least in part. When a person unlawfully enters upon private property — land, vehicle or otherwise — they are considered a criminal trespasser. This law also includes intentionally and unlawfully causes property damage equaling no more than $500, or unlawfully prevents use of property.
• Criminal damage to property: There are two degrees of criminal damage to property in Georgia. A charge in the first degree includes interfering with or damaging property in a way that endangers human life, or interferes with any public service (communication, water, gas, power, etc.). A charge in the second degree includes unlawful, intentional damage to another person’s property greater than $500, or use of fire or explosives to cause damage.