The rule that a more specific statute should prevail over the general statute is merely a rule of interpretation which is used to determine which statute the legislature intended to be applied in a particular case. 2d 280, Syl. When there is no conflict between the statutes because they govern two independent crimes, there is no reason to resort to rules of interpretation to determine which statute governs. Abuse of a child and aggravated battery are two separate crimes, and a defendant may be convicted of both. 14 Kan. App.
Aggravated battery involves the intent to injure and the actual infliction of bodily harm.
Neither of those are required to prove abuse of a child. Abuse of a child involves cruel and inhuman corporal punishment, intentional torture, cruel beating, or severe shaking of a child under 18. This is a separate crime from aggravated battery, not a more specific version of that offense. The crimes are directed at two different actions. Usually, the general versus specific statute distinction applies in cases such as where one statute generally governs sex crimes and another statute specifically governs those sex crimes against a relative.