Quote:
Originally posted by Mouse:
Nobody gets put in prison for defending themselves as long as the force and methods of self defence used are reasonable.
Here's an example:-
Someone comes up to me in the street and punches me. I take a swing back, connect and he falls over. I walk away, he gets charged with assault or some other public order offence.
As above but when he falls over, I run up to him and stamp repeatedly on his head. He dies, I get charged with either murder or culpable homicide.
The difference is that in the second example, the force I used was far beyond what was reasonable given the circumstances and in a civilised society, I believe it's the judicial system or legislature to decide what constitutes reasonableness in any particular situation, not the individual.
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Wise words indeed. So you say taking a swing at someone, after he punched you first is only natural, right ?
But what if that one swing causes the death of that person ? It could happen, i've heard it before. You didn't intend to kill him, but the outcome is the same as when you stamp on his head for a while. The force you used was not beyond reason, since you only reacted to a personal assault. But still....
How to judge a situation like that ?