Question: If you are beat up by someone and they hit you first, how far can you go in retaliation before you would get in trouble?
Answer: You can only use reasonable physical force needed at the time to protect yourself. If you hit back based on verbal threats or start the fight, then physical force is usually not justified. See A.R.S. § 13-404. Whether the force is reasonable depends on each case. For example, you can use deadly force to protect yourself against deadly force but that would not be justified if someone just punches you. This usually means you can use the same amount of force that the other person uses.
It is important to keep in mind that claiming self defense will not automatically let you off for fighting back. For example, if the other person starts the fight but in the middle wants to stop, you must also stop fighting. If you continue to hit him, you most likely will not be excused for self defense. You do not have a duty to run away after someone hits you. But if you do try to run away but can’t escape and your only option is to fight back, then self defense will most likely be justified.
You should think about the danger that the person is putting you in, and respond with an amount of force that would protect yourself from it. For example, if someone is hitting you, you can would expect to be possibly injured, but not killed by the attack. Your reasonable response would be to hit the person back or injure them, but killing them would go to far. If someone came at you with a gun, then there might be a real threat to your life, and you could use whatever force you need, potentially even killing the person, to protect yourself.
The bottom line is that if you respond with a reasonable amount of force in your situation, self-defense completely protects you from doing something illegal. This means that you can not get in trouble for it at all. If, on the other hand, you go too far (using too much force), only then do you become liable for your actions.
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| 11 thru 15 of 29 comments |
On 10/08/05
jose from TX said:
There is a guy at my school that messes with everybody one day he got to my face said give me your locker i siad no! So he said u wana fighti would of fight him but he gots gang and they will probably beat me up so i didnt do nothing. wat should i do next time something like that happpens. i know i can kick his rear but wat about his gang wat should i do fight or wat?
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On 08/13/04
kayla from PA said:
i just have 2 let u know wat happened 2 me. at school, when this grl i had a prob wit came up and started hittin me, i retaliated. i beat her up, but didnt seriously hurt her, and we both got suspended 4 10 days and fined. i tried 2 use the defense that she'd come up and hit me first but the school said they didnt care. i now know that if i had fought them on that, i would have won, but i let it go. now i know i shouldnt have. if somethin similar ever happens 2 u dont let no 1 push u around. u have the right 2 defend urself, despite wat ne1 says.
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On 05/23/04
brian from AZ said:
if someone is stronger than you and you know that they hit hard what should i do? and where should i hit then?
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On 04/01/04
jon from DE said:
jeremy there is no sense in running away from a fight. I can see if they have a gun to your face then u run like heck. there is nothing to fear but fear itself. remember that
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On 01/12/04
Provoked To Hurt But Doesnt Know How To Retaliate from NM said:
This stupid guy is a senior and he always gets in my face and im just a freshman. the thing is that i know not what to do to him he is alot bigger than me thats why i tell him nothing but he always gets in my face for no reason at all. All i need to know is how to defend myself (if i have to) against this senior.
Signed Strong But Weak
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