Self-Defence and the Law

The law recognises that there may be situations where you need to use force to protect yourself or another person.

However, self-defence is not a licence to fight, punish somebody or take revenge.

The key questions are:

Was force necessary?

and

Was the force used reasonable in the circumstances?

Do you need to use force?

The first consideration is whether you genuinely believe that force is necessary.

If you can safely avoid the situation, create distance or leave, these may provide better options.

However, situations do not always allow that.

You may need to protect yourself or another person from an immediate threat.

The circumstances as you honestly believed them to be at the time are important when considering whether your actions were necessary.

You don’t have to wait to be attacked

Self-defence does not necessarily mean waiting until somebody has already hit or injured you.

There may be circumstances where you honestly believe an attack is about to happen and taking action first is necessary to protect yourself or another person.

This is sometimes described as pre-emptive action.

The important point is that your actions must still be defensive.

You are responding to what you honestly believe is an imminent threat, rather than attacking somebody because you think they might possibly cause trouble later.

Was the force reasonable?

If force is necessary, the amount of force used must also be reasonable in the circumstances.

There is no simple formula for this.

A person dealing with a frightening and rapidly developing situation cannot always be expected to calculate exactly how much force is required.

The circumstances as a whole will be considered.

This might include:

• what you believed was happening

• the nature of the threat

• how immediate the threat appeared to be

• what the other person was doing

• the options reasonably available at the time

• the amount of force you used

• whether the threat continued

The law recognises that decisions made during a rapidly developing incident cannot always be judged with perfect hindsight.

What about proportionality?

You may hear the word proportionate when discussing self-defence.

This does not mean that you simply have to match whatever somebody else does.

For example, the law does not work on the basis that if somebody pushes you, you may only push them back.

The circumstances matter.

The important question is whether the force you used was reasonable in the situation as you honestly believed it to be.

Do you have to run away?

There is not an absolute legal duty to retreat before acting in self-defence.

Whether you had an opportunity to move away can, however, be relevant when considering the circumstances.

From a personal safety point of view, the legal question and the practical question are slightly different.

If you have a safe opportunity to escape a dangerous situation, taking it may still be your best option.

The aim is to get yourself safe, not to prove that you were entitled to stay.

When should force stop?

The justification for using force can change as the situation changes.

Imagine somebody attacks you and you use physical force to create an opportunity to escape.

The person stops attacking and you can safely move away.

Your situation has now changed.

Continuing to attack them because you are angry about what happened could become retaliation rather than self-defence.

Keep reassessing.

Is the threat still happening?

Do I still need to use force?

Can I now escape?

Protecting another person

Self-defence is not limited to protecting yourself.

There may also be circumstances where reasonable force can be used to protect another person.

The same principles remain important.

Consider whether force is necessary and whether your response is reasonable in the circumstances.

Weapons and personal safety

Be particularly careful about carrying something specifically as a weapon for self-defence.

Carrying an offensive weapon in public simply because you believe you might need it for protection can itself be unlawful.

Something marketed or described as a personal protection device is not automatically legal to carry in the UK.

The safest approach is not to assume that carrying a weapon makes you safer.

The purpose matters

If you ever have to physically defend yourself, remember why you are doing it.

The aim is not to win a fight.

It is to deal with the immediate threat and get yourself or another person to safety.

Return to the approach we have used throughout this manual:

Avoid → Disengage → Create Distance → Escape → Get Help

If physical force becomes necessary, use it for a protective purpose.

When you have a safe opportunity to disengage and escape, take it.

Personal safety is about getting home safely, not winning the confrontation.