Texas Penal Code Chapter 22: Assaultive Offenses and Penalties

Texas Penal Code Chapter 22 defines the state’s assaultive offenses, running from a Class C misdemeanor threat punishable only by a fine up to a first-degree felony carrying 5 to 99 years or life in prison. The chapter sits in Title 5 of the penal code and sets out the conduct, mental states, and victim categories that drive each penalty. Which section applies, and which penalty tier within that section, turns on who was harmed, how badly, with what weapon, and with what intent.

Assault (Section 22.01)

Section 22.01 recognizes three ways to commit assault: causing bodily injury to another person, threatening someone with imminent bodily injury, or making physical contact you know the other person will find offensive or provocative.¹ Bodily injury means physical pain, illness, or any impairment of physical condition.²

Threatening or offensive-contact assault is a Class C misdemeanor by default, with a maximum fine of $500 and no jail. Offensive contact against an elderly or disabled person is a Class A misdemeanor, and offensive contact against a sports official performing their duties is a Class B.¹

Bodily-injury assault starts as a Class A misdemeanor: up to one year in county jail, a fine of up to $4,000, or both.³ The charge jumps to a third-degree felony (2 to 10 years) when the victim is a public servant, security officer, emergency services worker, process server, hospital staff on hospital property, or utility worker performing job duties, or when the defendant knew the victim was pregnant.¹

Family violence drives its own enhancements. An assault on a family or household member is a third-degree felony if the defendant has a prior conviction for a qualifying domestic violence offense under Chapter 22, Chapter 19, or related statutes. If the assault involves choking or blocking the victim’s airway, it is a third-degree felony on the first offense, no prior required.¹

At the top of Section 22.01, assaulting a peace officer or judge who is performing official duties is a second-degree felony (2 to 20 years). So is a repeat strangulation of a family or household member by someone with a prior domestic violence conviction.¹

Aggravated Assault (Section 22.02)

An assault becomes aggravated when the victim suffers serious bodily injury or the defendant uses or displays a deadly weapon during the assault.⁴ Serious bodily injury means an injury that creates a substantial risk of death, causes permanent disfigurement, or results in long-term loss of function of a body part or organ. A deadly weapon includes firearms and anything designed or used in a way capable of causing death or serious bodily injury, so ordinary objects like a bat or a vehicle can qualify based on how they were used.²

Baseline aggravated assault is a second-degree felony: 2 to 20 years in prison and a possible $10,000 fine.⁵ It rises to a first-degree felony when committed against a public servant performing duties, by a public servant abusing authority, or against a family member by strangulation with a deadly weapon. Causing a traumatic brain or spinal injury that leaves the victim in a persistent vegetative state or with irreversible paralysis also triggers first-degree treatment.⁴ A first-degree felony carries 5 to 99 years or life, plus a possible $10,000 fine.⁶

Sexual Assault (Section 22.011)

Section 22.011 criminalizes nonconsensual sexual penetration or contact. Against an adult, the state must prove the act occurred without consent. The statute lists over a dozen scenarios establishing lack of consent, including force or threats, a victim who is unconscious or physically unable to resist, a victim unaware the act is happening, and situations where the actor drugged the victim. It also covers abuse of professional authority by health care providers, clergy, coaches, and similar figures of trust.⁷

When the victim is a child under 17, consent is not an element. Any sexual act with a child is criminal regardless of the circumstances.⁷

Sexual assault is a second-degree felony: 2 to 20 years in prison and up to a $10,000 fine.⁵ A conviction triggers mandatory sex offender registration under Chapter 62 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

Aggravated Sexual Assault (Section 22.021)

Sexual assault becomes aggravated when certain factors are present during the offense. The conduct-based factors are causing serious bodily injury, attempting to kill the victim, using or displaying a deadly weapon, threatening kidnapping or death, drugging the victim to facilitate the act, or acting together with another person. The victim-based factors apply automatically when the victim is younger than 14, elderly, or disabled.⁸

Aggravated sexual assault is a first-degree felony with a 5-year minimum and a maximum of 99 years or life.⁶ The minimum jumps to 25 years when the victim was younger than 6, or younger than 14 in a case involving a conduct-based aggravator like a deadly weapon or serious bodily injury.⁸ Sex offender registration is mandatory on conviction.

Injury to a Child, Elderly Individual, or Disabled Individual (Section 22.04)

Section 22.04 creates a separate offense for harming especially vulnerable people: children 14 and younger, adults 65 and older, and individuals with a substantial physical or mental disability that prevents them from protecting themselves.⁹ Unlike most assault charges, this statute punishes harm caused by omission. A caregiver, parent, or facility employee whose failure to provide necessary care causes injury faces the same charges as someone who inflicts the harm directly.

The penalty tracks both the severity of the injury and the defendant’s mental state:

Serious bodily injury caused intentionally or knowingly: first-degree felony, 5 to 99 years or life.
Serious bodily injury caused recklessly: second-degree felony, 2 to 20 years.
Bodily injury caused intentionally or knowingly: third-degree felony, 2 to 10 years.
Bodily injury caused recklessly: state jail felony, 180 days to 2 years.
Any injury caused with criminal negligence: state jail felony, 180 days to 2 years.

Every felony level carries a possible fine of up to $10,000. The statute specifically reaches employees of group homes, nursing facilities, assisted living centers, and similar institutional care settings.⁹

Deadly Conduct (Section 22.05)

Deadly conduct punishes reckless behavior that puts someone in immediate danger of serious bodily injury, even when no one is hurt. General reckless conduct of that kind is a Class A misdemeanor: up to one year in jail and a fine of up to $4,000. Swinging a weapon near someone or driving a vehicle at a person can qualify.¹⁰

Knowingly discharging a firearm at or in the direction of a person, home, building, or vehicle is a third-degree felony, 2 to 10 years in prison. The state does not need to prove anyone was hit, or that the building or vehicle was occupied. The statute also presumes recklessness and danger whenever someone knowingly points a firearm at another person, loaded or not.¹⁰

Terroristic Threat (Section 22.07)

A terroristic threat under Texas law is any threat to commit a violent offense against a person or property, made with specific intent. The penalty depends on what the threat was designed to do:¹¹

Triggering an emergency response or placing an individual in fear of imminent serious injury: Class B misdemeanor, up to 180 days in jail and a $2,000 fine. The charge rises to a Class A misdemeanor if the target is a family member or public servant, and to a state jail felony if the target is a peace officer or judge.
Disrupting the use of a building, public place, or vehicle: Class A misdemeanor, up to one year in jail and a $4,000 fine. If the disruption causes $1,500 or more in economic losses, the charge becomes a state jail felony.
Interrupting public services, placing the general public in fear of serious injury, or influencing government conduct: third-degree felony, 2 to 10 years.

The reach is broad. A bomb threat to a school, a threat used to empty an office, or an online threat intended to cause public fear can all fall under Section 22.07.¹¹

Texas Penalty Ranges at a Glance

Because Chapter 22 offenses move across multiple penalty tiers depending on the facts, the full framework in one place is useful:

Class C misdemeanor: fine up to $500, no jail time.
Class B misdemeanor: up to 180 days in jail, fine up to $2,000.
Class A misdemeanor: up to 1 year in jail, fine up to $4,000.³
State jail felony: 180 days to 2 years in a state jail facility, fine up to $10,000.¹²
Third-degree felony: 2 to 10 years in prison, fine up to $10,000.
Second-degree felony: 2 to 20 years in prison, fine up to $10,000.⁵
First-degree felony: 5 to 99 years or life in prison, fine up to $10,000.⁶

A deadly weapon finding attached to a state jail felony conviction automatically elevates the punishment to the third-degree felony range.¹²

What Chapter 22 Does Not Cover

Two commonly related topics sit outside Chapter 22 and are worth flagging so you look in the right place. Continuous Violence Against the Family, which punishes two or more family-member assaults within a 12-month period as a third-degree felony, is Section 25.11 in Chapter 25 of the penal code.¹³ The self-defense justification that most often arises in Chapter 22 prosecutions lives in Chapter 9, principally Sections 9.31 and 9.32, and Texas imposes no duty to retreat when the person using force has a right to be where the confrontation occurs.¹⁴ Statutes of limitations for assaultive offenses live in the Code of Criminal Procedure, not the penal code, and run from two years for misdemeanor assault to no limit at all for sexual offenses against children.¹⁵

1
State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 22.01 – Assault
2
State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 1.07 – Definitions
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State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 12.21 – Class A Misdemeanor
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State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 22.02 – Aggravated Assault
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State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 12.33 – Second Degree Felony Punishment
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State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 12.32 – First Degree Felony Punishment
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State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 22.011 – Sexual Assault
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State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 22.021 – Aggravated Sexual Assault
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State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 22.04 – Injury to a Child, Elderly Individual, or Disabled Individual
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State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 22.05 – Deadly Conduct
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State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 22.07 – Terroristic Threat
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State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 12.35 – State Jail Felony Punishment
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State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 25.11 – Continuous Violence Against the Family
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State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 9.32 – Deadly Force in Defense of Person
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State of Texas. Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Article 12.01 – Felonies