Self-Defense and the Law
Please note that we are NOT the original writers of this blog post. All credit goes to the original writers. Find the original post as published at this link: http://invictaselfdefense.blogspot.com/2014/02/self-defense-and-law.html
I think any discussion about self-defense should also include a brief foray to the legalities surrounding it. Although it’s always important to defend yourself, I get the impression that there are people who are confused as to what actually constitutes”self-defense” in the legal sense of the term, and what is necessary in order to (hopefully) successfully put a self-defense plea ahead in a court of law.
Some things to Remember:
- Claiming”self-defense” is an affirmative defense, meaning that you are agreeing with the facts of what you did. It’s important to not forget that if your plea does not work, you’ve essentially pled guilty.
- The burden of proof is on the defense (that’s you!) . You need to show beyond a reasonable doubt your course of action was appropriate for the situation in order to safely resolve the circumstance.
- Beyond that, you might need to explain why lesser actions wouldn’t have worked, why you felt threatened, and why any reasonable person would have believed that they were in danger in case you have to go to court.
- If you stayed when you could have left after a verbal challenge or an argument, it wasn’t self-defense.
- You must be able to articulate that this individual was a threat to you in three specific ways:
- Intent – the Threat indicated to you (and you need to be able to explain how you knew) that he/she wanted to harm you
- Means – he/she should have the means to carry out their intent (sometimes simply their size, their demeanour, their fists, etc. will suffice).
- Opportunity – he/she must be able to reach you with the way (if a person demonstrates intent and means, but are yelling at you from the street while you are inside your home, they do not yet likely have the opportunity to carry out their act of violence against you).
- Once you articulate how this person was a threat, you want to have the ability to demonstrate preclusion — which you didn’t have any other viable option (you couldn’t leave, you couldn’t talk your way out, you couldn’t call for help, or help would not arrive in time). You must be able to explain why force was the one option that would safely get the job done.
- Self-defense situations change quickly the longer they go on, which means that the intent, means and opportunity will change, too; you may no longer be defending yourself in a particular point into the scenario. The goal is to end these situations as quickly as possible, and to seek help at the first chance to do so.
- If you’re surprised, this often automatically justifies a high level of force.
- If you’re losing, then you aren’t using enough power to resolve the situation safely for yourself.
- At the end of the day, it is essential that you get home safely. A police officer friend of mine once said he would rather be judged by twelve than carried out by six, meaning that he’d rather face the courts for his activities than be dead and not even have the opportunity to do that for not defending himself properly. Do what you have to do in order to survive any assault against you, but the key is to make sure that your response is appropriate to the assault (i.e. someone punches you in the arm and you go shoot them in the leg – that’s not a proportionate response).
I’m not a lawyer, and this post is not intended to give you legal advice, but it hopefully will get you thinking about self-defense and the law.
For further information and an interesting read on this subject Miller, Rory. Facing Violence: Preparing for the Unexpected. USA: 2011, YMAA Publication Centre.
For further information and an interesting read on this subject Miller, Rory. Facing Violence: Preparing for the Unexpected. USA: 2011, YMAA Publication Centre.