Violent crimes are horrible, but what is worse is being accused of one that you didn’t commit willingly or at all. There are many reasons that people are shot, hit or injured, and not all are due to a person’s violent tendencies or the want to harm another person.
According to the 2011 crime clock statistics, there is a violent crime in the United States once every 26.2 seconds. Violent crimes include a number of different criminal acts from murder to rape, robbery or aggravated assault.
In fact, statistics show that one murder takes place every 36 minutes, while a robbery takes place every 1.5 minutes. Every 42 seconds, there’s an aggravated assault, and every 6.3 minutes there is a forcible rape.
The mark of a violent crime is physical aggression. There can be reasons for people to be physical with one another, though. For example, if you are walking home and are attacked, you would likely fight back to protect yourself. If you’re arrested for assault, you could argue that your case is actually one about your right to defend yourself and could claim self-defense.
Robberies, on the other hand, are when you steal money or property while using fear or physical force. Defenses for this kind of crime can be more difficult, but if nothing was stolen or no physical force or threats were used, then you can claim innocence or work to have the charge changed to a lesser charge with different potential penalties. If you’re accused of robberies and weren’t at the scene, these can also be good defenses for your case.