Self Defense Principles - Introduction

Exercising ones’ right to self defense may sometimes lead to serious injury or unavoidable death. This comes with consequences in the eyes of the law. It is therefore important to know the five principles of the law of self-defense.
This will ensure any survivor of Sexual or Gender Based Violence who uses any form of force in self defense is not guilty of a criminal offense.

There are 5 main Principles of Self Defense:
- Innocence
- Imminence
- Proportionality
- Avoidance
- Reasonableness.
All these principles must be present in any action of self defense; especially when it is physical. We will discuss them one by one:

Innocence

The principle of Innocence expects that any one who claims self defense should not have initiated the conflict. In some circumstances however, the initiator of a crisis may have the right to re-claim their innocence.
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Imminence

The principle of Imminence expects that self defense with physical force is used in situations where the threat is about to happen RIGHT NOW. This means a survivor cannot claim self defense to prevent a later danger or threat. In such situations, reporting to the police would be more appropriate. It also means that physical force cannot be used in response to a danger or threat that has happened or passed— This will be interpreted as retaliation, not self defense
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Proportionality

This principle expects that the degree of physical force used by a survivor in self-defense should be proportional to the degree of physical force with which the survivor is threatened. A threat with the potential of death or severe body injury (e.g. a rape) may warrant a deadly force.
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Avoidance

This principle expects that a target of violence will not use physical force in self-defense if they have the option of retreating to safety. This would mean that the individual used physical force because he/ she did not have the chance to escape or run to safety. If faced with an option, targets of violence should rather choose to retreat to safety instead of causing bodily harm or death.
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Reasonableness

This principle requires that the person claiming self-defense assessed the situation in the manner a “reasonable person” would have. In other words, your perceptions and actions in self-defense were must be similar to that of a reasonable person in similar circumstance. If not, self-defense cannot be claimed.As an example, a person cannot kick an individual because she thought the man carrying a cup of soda wanted to kill her.
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Conclusion

Self-defense laws are not always straight forward and may vary from country to country. It is advisable to always try to find a non-violent way out of a dangerous situation if possible. A person’s sense of judgment may be distorted when in danger; thus, all self defense actions that may cause serious bodily injury or death must be carefully weighed.
All the above principles must exist and be established to justify self defense especially when it leads to bodily injury or death.

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