the legality of martial arts

[Soundtrackzz]

Hello. Like all of you I hope that I never have to use the martial arts that I've trained so hard in for self defense. However we all know that sometimes it cannot be avoided. What I'm interested in knowing is how criminally or civily liable are you if you use your art to defend yourself? Do you know anyone who has used martial arts to defend themselves? If so what was the outcome?

[Hatori]

I've known other people and myself who have had to use their knowledge. I was involved in an incident many years ago where I previously worked. A customer who was a know drug-user flipped and tried to choke the life out of me. I was forced to break his arm in order to escape. I was interviewed by the Police and that was as far as it went. I have known people who have been given a Police "caution" but no one that I know of has actually been prosecuted.

[sirdarksol]

In a perfect world, your liability would be limited to whether or not you used a reasonable amount of force. For example, a broken arm to prevent being choked (potentially to death), seems pretty reasonable, especially with regards to a drug user. Meth (and other stimulants) can make for some insanely strong combatants. I have a friend who was a security guard for awhile. He once ended up wrestling with a meth user, and it was all he could do just to keep the guy in the same area (not under any control, just not able to run away or hurt anyone other than my friend) until five other guards showed up. Even then, it took them forever to get the guy under control.

However, in America (and presumably other countries as well), liability is also dictated by what mood the police are in when questioning, what mood the judge is in, if the other guy has a good attorney, and the amount of permanent harm caused when you defended yourself. It's insane, but in America at least, you're better off shooting someone between the eyes than causing permanent but survivable organ damage.

I have not ever been in a fight, and none of my friends have defended themselves in a situation that was reported to the police (except for security guard work, but they've got nearly a carte blanche in defending themselves), so this info is from research, rather than personal experience.

[disgruntled]

i have never had to deal with this thank god.... but i do agree with sirdarksol's comment about the subjectivity of the law. it is sad, but true.