I noticed that people kept treating me like a criminal and when I looked at my crimes it said that I had XX number of assaults. I haven't "assaulted" anyone on this play through. I wanted to play the all around good guy, but for some reason my assault number keeps rising.

If I successfully get a sneak attack, EVEN on a human faction that I can never join, do I still get pinned with assaults? I like the mage/rogue route that allows me to be as stealthy as possible, but still able to hold my own in battle with magic and swords.

Is this a bug or is it that you get the crime hit for a successful sneak attack on ANY human NPC?

YES.
I don't know what happened.
I even had a murder.
O_O

Chances are you hit someone and didn't notice.

Im not sure either. Been playing a "Hero" character that does nothing but good and it says I have over 100 assaults.

An assault is any damage you inflict on any NPC that isn't out to kill you, eg: vampires, bandits, necromancers.

same, except...few coin purses,black brootherhood orders, theives guild reak in I am the good guy!

Have a few myself, but not too many. Also have a theft and a paid fine. Nothing to worry about really, I think it's pretty much impossible to get a zero on all the crime statistics.

Attacking bandits or necromancers should not give you an 'assault' stat though, as these characters are hostile whether you initiate battle or not.

How could it not be an assault if you're attacking someone? Isn't that an assault by definition?
Even if the assault is legally justified, or in defense, it is still an assault by definition. Even if you aren't given a bounty/warrant/arrest, it is still an assault.

If you hit someone while in a fight (not enough to make them hostile, but just hit them once) I think it counts as an assault. Brawls might count as well.

Yes, but it is listed in the 'crime' tab, which tends to mean that it is a criminal assault. Killing bandits or other nefarious types is not a crime.

^ This. It's only a crime in your bounty triggers.

The game has a bunch of bugs though, so it wouldnt surprise me if the stats are kinda screwed aswell.
If you see an imperial party in the wild and kill them, even though you get a bounty, and then it disappears when you kill "the last witness" go to a city, every motherf'ing guard will try to kill you. Like HOW DO THEY KNOW? LAST WITNESS KILLED? HOW THE HELL!

Psychic guards are back my friends, were screwed.

I've got 25. I'm going to assume it's from shocking or lighting Lydia's ass on fire because she likes to jump in front of me when I'm kicking butt as a mage. I rarely battle around anyone that is not hostile. Short of the first dragon encounter........wait, that's the only encounter where I was amongst others. I've been spending minimal time in cities. Mostly I've been on one side or the other of the Throat of the World and surround ranges.

As a side note to this, if you see an Imperial party (or any other) with a prisoner, talk to the prisoner, free them, and the party will attack you. Anything you do after that point is self defence, and will not result in a crime or bounty. Very handy if you want/need the loot.

That's not true in the game (obviously) and it isn't true IRL either. Killing someone is always homicide which is a crime, even if it is justified and no charges are filed. Attacking someone is always assault which is a crime, even if it is justified and no charges are filed.

Even if the authorities do not come after you for assaulting vampires, it is still assault.

The problem is that I can hit my followers all I want and I don't get assaults listed. I specifically tested it out and it is even on bandits and other enemies that will attack no matter what if they see you. I wouldn't mind so much, but non-aggressive NPCs are reacting negatively to my "Heroine" since. They're talking a ton of crap to me even though I'm constantly doing good deeds. I'm fixing to start a new character and test it out some more, but I hope a mod fix for this comes along if there is no way for the non-aggressive NPCs to treat my "Heroine" nicely.

I got 7 assaults as well, and I'm not sure how I got them.

whats all this talk about salt? pretty useful if you ask me

Here is something I found during my gameplay. Not sure if it would help.

Remember the very beginning you were about to get executed and the dragon came along?

I ran into the keep with Ralof. The imperials were approaching the door and we stand beside readying ourselves.

As soon as the door opens, I ran into it and blast flames into the guards. Ralof was behind me so I'm pretty sure he did not get my flames.

I checked the log and found 1 assault.

I tried this many times and always get the assault logged.

The only way was to back off abit let the guard charge at me before I take him down.

Tested it some more and it is when the NPC won't attack right away and just threatens you to stay back. I have started a new game and don't have any other crimes and will see if non-aggressive NPCs react negatively to me after awhile.