Martial Arts Backgrounds Should Not Be Taken Into Account By The Law

pinqy said:

Why do skills matter? If you are the aggressor and hurt someone, it's assault. If the other person is the agressor, it is self defense (yes I know it's more nuanced than that). Fighting background or experience is completely irrelevant as far as criminal charges.

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It would go to the self defense and level of force necessary.

For example.. an untrained person.. who has someone the same size, same condition etc, who is actively aggressively coming at them.. without a weapon.. stating "I am going to kill you"..

It would be more reasonable for them to believe that they are in imminent danger of grave bodily harm.. and it may justify them hitting the person repeatedly or using a bat, or a knife.. or.. even a firearm to defend themselves. even if it ends up being deadly force.

In the same scenario.. If I, as a trained martial artist.. am being confronted by an aggressor my same size. condition.. and he swings a wild punch at me.. and I proceed to strike him until he is dead..

Its going to be a lot less reasonable for anyone to believe that I reasonably felt that I was in fear for my life.

d0gbreath said:

I think that the general idea is simply to not pick the fights, nor go looking for one.

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I wholeheartedly agree. The only time I would physically retaliate is if somebody instigates with me. I don't put up with bullies.

DebateChallenge said:

I will give you two situations.

Situation A, you have zero experience in the martial arts and you hurt somebody really badly.

Situation B, you have tons of experience in the martial arts and you hurt somebody less badly than in situation A.

Aside from that, all other factors are the same in both situations. In which of the two situations should you be punished more severely?

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I can't answer that without more information?

What was the context? Self defense, or I was just assaulting someone for no reason?

How did I hurt someone? Did I use my hands, or a weapon? Did I intend to hurt the person really badly, or was it a little scuffle?

Tlrmln said:

I can't answer that without more information?

What was the context? Self defense, or I was just assaulting someone for no reason?

How did I hurt someone? Did I use my hands, or a weapon? Did I intend to hurt the person really badly, or was it a little scuffle?

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Lets say that in both situations there are no weapons involved and all other factors are equal.

DebateChallenge said:

Lets say that in both situations there are no weapons involved and all other factors are equal.

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If it was self-defense, I wouldn't punish either of them.

If it wasn't self-defense, I would give a worse punishment to the one who caused more harm.

Tlrmln said:

If it was self-defense, I wouldn't punish either of them.

If it wasn't self-defense, I would give a worse punishment to the one who caused more harm.

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Here's the problem with that, in regards to self defense there are all sorts of other factors that come into play to be able to use self defense as a justification.

DebateChallenge said:

Here's the problem with that, in regards to self defense there are all sorts of other factors that come into play to be able to use self defense as a justification.

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Yeah, and I asked you for the factors, and you didn't provide them :2wave: