ShortBridge
3rd Black Belt
No one commented on the legal question. I have a friend who lectures and has written books on this subject that some of you have likely read. I have somewhat different views and this is fundamentally what I tell my students:
First of all the actual law depends on the country, state, and sometimes even more local jurisdictions. Anyone who really wants to work this out, needs to do so in the place that they live and then remember that when you are traveling it may not exactly apply. Get your information from local experts.
But, let's break this down further:
The Law - Written laws are usually pretty clear. Research them and/or consult with an attorney.
Will you be arrested? - A totally different question. Police on the scene will decide who to arrest. They might take your information and let you go, they might apprehend you and take you in for an hour or over night. They don't only arrest people who they know will be charged, prosecuted, and convicted. Sometimes, they just feel the need to get someone in custody, off the street. Before local marijuana laws changed to the point where they currently are in Washington, a Seattle cop friend explained to me that though it was illegal, personal possession was the city attorney's lowest prosecution priority. Meaning, if they got all their other work done and there was no crime left to be prosecuted that month, they might actually charge and prosecute a personal marijuana possession. Of course that was never the case, so police had no interest in arresting someone and taking both suspect and arresting officer off of the street for an hour only to have them released. BUT, if they felt like they were a danger to themselves or someone else or they were on their way to commit a violent crime, or they wanted to effect a legal search, they could use the dime bag to put them in jail for the night and avoid something worse. It was against "the law" and it is a valid arrest, though charges will be dropped. Point is, police on the scene get to decide who to arrest and who to let go. Whether or not you are arrested or spend a night in jail is a different question than were you justified?
Will you be charged/prosecuted? - On one level I don't believe that law enforcement institutions are inherently corrupt, as Davy indicated. But, they do have their problems and some are worse than others. Putting that aside, the city/district attorney will decide afterward, whether or not you were arrested, whether to charge you. This could be based on a variety of things, virtually none of which are within your control at this point. If you punch one guy in the face, he may shake it off, take you down and beat you stupid. Same punch, different guy, he might hit his head on the dark alley and die. Maybe he had a medical problem and would have died that night anyway, maybe it was a freak accident, it happens. Don't throw the punch if you aren't prepared to deal with whatever the result ends up being. Prosecutors have careers just like the rest of us and their win/loss record is essential to them. They chose cases that they think they can win and tend not to pursue cases where they doubt it. That has nothing to do with "the law" or "what's legal", but it's almost the more relevant question, right up there with "what else is on their plate right now?"
Will you be convicted? - This is really what I think most people mean when they ask about the law. It's really a different question, though. How good is the prosecutor? How good is your attorney? How much can you afford to spend on your defense and how long can you be tied up with the process? How much/little did you help them build their case after the fact? How sympathetic is the victim? (no way for you to know in the alley) Your race might be a factor. The person who you hurt's race might be a factor. The judge might be a factor. The jury will be a factor. For these reasons, most cases settle. It becomes a crap shoot that most accused people are uncomfortable with. None of this has very much to do with the actual law. Whatever the law is in your area, you might be arrested, you might be prosecuted, you might be convicted. There are laws everywhere about one person using violence against another person. When they apply to an incident involves a lot of human decision making. What you should be concerned with is "will it result in litigation?"
I actually think that "law abiding" citizens working out ahead of time when they can legally justify violence against another person creates a lot of newsworthy stories of tragedy. I won't cite any because we'll divide up into camps and start calling each other names. But, if I have a student or someone who wants to be a student who I suspect is thinking this way, we sort it out or I don't teach them.
Personally, I don't want to hurt anyone. I am committed to my personal safety. That means making good choices and being prepared to use my training to survive an assault. I trust myself and my judgement knowing that it can't be perfect and people do make mistakes, sometimes fatal ones. If I have really good situational awareness, avoid problems and am good as de-escallation (which I am) and am not too proud to run to safety if that's my best option, then I'm only going to resort to physical self defense because I had to. At that point, I have to survive the next 2 minutes and I can't be thinking about my legal defense until its over.
Complicated, cascading legal checklists to run down in a figurative dark alley with shady figures approaching you will prevent you from acting in your own best interest.*
*I'm not an attorney.
**The opinions of this poster are for entertainment purposes only and should not be considered legal advice.
***Stay in school, don't do drugs.
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