What Is Self-Defense?

In legal terms, self-defense is justified force used by someone to defend his life or the life of someone else. Self-defense is used as a defendant's argument to criminal charges involving force like assault, manslaughter or murder. It can only be applied in certain situations and to a limited degree to be accepted as a justification for violence.

Identification

Self-defense is only justified when it is in response to an attack that is likely to kill or cause great bodily harm. For example, you cannot kill someone just because they pushed you or are trespassing on your property. However, if an attacker is shooting you or stabbing you, then it is reasonable to believe that the attacker is trying to kill you.

Theories/Speculation

The person claiming self-defense must reasonably believe that she has no other choice but to use self-defense to protect her life or the life of someone else. For example, if it was possible to run away or attract the attention of other people who could have stopped an attacker, then the use of self-defense is not justified. Self-defense must be a last resort.

Considerations

Someone claiming self-defense can only use as much force as is necessary to stop the potentially deadly attack. For example, if self-defense is used to stop an attacker and the attacker is rendered unconscious, the person claiming self-defense cannot continue inflicting damage on the unconscious attacker.

Features

A person claiming self-defense does not have to wait to actually suffer harm before defending himself or someone else. For example, if an attacker threatens you with a knife or gun, you do not have to wait to be injured to defend yourself. If someone breaks into your house and then attacks you, self-defense is allowed since you cannot know how much he intends to harm you. However, he must threaten you first. Simply breaking in does not justify self-defense.

Function

You can claim self-defense if you are protecting someone else's life. The argument becomes especially strong when you are defending a relative or someone close to you. The law allows you to use force against force as if the harm was to you. Self-defense can be claimed if you are being assaulted by multiple attackers. The law protects you if you injure or kill one of the attackers, even if that particular attacker was not the one who threatened your life. The law does not expect you to distinguish the difference as you are fighting for your life.

Warning

Self-defense is much harder to prove when you willingly engage in a fight. In that case you must prove that you did everything possible to try to stop the fight and get away. You must also prove that the person you were fighting was killed after you tried to get away and that you had no other choice to save your own life.