The following questions were submitted to John Roska, an attorney/writer whose weekly newspaper column, "Q&A: The Law," ran in the Champaign News-Gazette. 

Question

What’s the difference between assault and battery? What are the penalties? If I’m convicted, can the record ever be deleted?

Answer

They’re two different things. You can commit an assault or a battery, but they’re distinct offenses. There is no such thing as “assault and battery.”

The law divides crimes into two main categories: “offenses directed against property,” and “offenses directed against the person.”

Offenses against property include:

• Theft,
• Burglary,
• Arson, and
• Disorderly conduct.

The primary offenses against people include: 

• Homicide,
• Kidnapping,
• Sex offenses, and
• “Bodily harm.”

Assault and battery are the two basic “bodily harm” offenses.

An assault is committed when someone “engages in conduct which places another in reasonable apprehension of receiving a battery.” It’s a threat—real or implied—of a battery, or a battery in progress.

A battery occurs when one “causes bodily harm" to a person. Or when someone “makes physical contact of an insulting or provoking nature with an individual.” To be a criminal, the person must act “intentionally or knowingly without legal justification.”

Regular battery becomes aggravated battery when someone commits a battery with an aggravating condition. Many conditions can aggravate a battery charge. For example, causing bodily harm to a person known to have an intellectual disability or battering someone on public property would turn a regular battery into an aggravated battery.

The intent is key for a battery. You can’t batter a person on accident. Or, as Justice Holmes put it, “even a dog distinguishes between being stumbled over and being kicked.”

Though it’s seen as a “bodily harm” offense, just contact can be enough. One case says a finger poke in the chest is a battery.

Simple assault is a Class C misdemeanor (max. $500 fine and 30 days in jail). Plus, community service for not less than 30 and not more than 120 hours, if community service is available. Aggravated assault, involving a long list of possible factors, is a more serious misdemeanor. Sometimes it is a felony. Some of those factors include assault committed:

• With a firearm,
• While hooded or masked,
• Against certain people, or
• Or at specific locations.

Some victims that can make it aggravated assault are those age 60 or older, teachers, and coaches. Some of the aggravating locations are “public property” and NCAA events.

Simple battery is a Class A misdemeanor (max. $1,000 fine; 6 months to 1 year in jail). It’s aggravated battery if there’s “great bodily harm.” It's also aggravated battery if there is an aggravating factor. Most of the factors that aggravate an assault also aggravate a battery.  All aggravated batteries are felonies. Some say the public property factor turns too many simple batteries into felonies.

In 2020 Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a bill to protect employees. If someone batters an employee performing duties related to public health, it is aggravated battery.
 
For example, some employers require the use of  face masks. If someone hits an employee while the mask policy is enforced, it is aggravated battery.

When a criminal record is expunged, it’s destroyed. It’s gone, so no one can see it anymore. Such a large action is only possible if you have no convictions on your record. Court supervision isn’t considered a conviction. Thus, supervision for misdemeanor assault or battery are the sole records where you were fined or otherwise “sentenced” that you may expunge. You can’t get supervision for a felony. Anything more than supervision is a conviction that prevents an expungement.

Sometimes, if a record can’t be deleted, it can be sealed. Sealing closes a record to the public. But it stays open to law enforcement. Because it’s less extreme than deletion, sealing misdemeanor convictions is often possible.

But, you can’t seal convictions for “crimes of violence” like assault and battery, even if they were misdemeanors.

If it’s usually easier to seal than delete, how can you expunge a record that can’t be sealed? Because your record’s cleaner— there are no convictions.