Bullying Legal Info

[Guile]

I have posted the same general idea many times in the bullying section, so I figured I might as well make a post about it, someone pin this please.

All information is relevant in the United States and the District of Columbia only, the author, teenhelp staff, owners, subsidaries, and affiliates take no legal responsability for the information posed henceforth, it is provided for educational purposes only. No information provided is guaranteed accurate and you should contact a local attorney with questions or before you take any legal action.

I'm sorry, I have to post that, it protects us from any lawsuits. Anyway I noticed that there are numerous threads asking, "can the police get involved if..." so I decided I might aas well clear it up now. Now to put it in a plain, less legal sounding context, I am going to list out many of the common scenarios I see asked about on here and give the answer about your legal rights regarding them. Hopefully this can avoid the constant clutter I see in this forum, and make it easier for people to find the general advice they need.

[Guile]

PHYSICAL BULLYING

Q. If someone punched, kicked, etc. me, am I allowed to fight back?

A. Yes, you are within full legal right to defend yourself from an attacker, but you may use no more force then they are using against you, and you are only allowed to use as much to deescalate the situation so you ca get away. As in, if someone punches you, then you may not break their arm and hit their head into the ground repeatedly, you may punch them and run away though, but it is always legally safer to just run away.


Q. If someone punched, kicked, etc. me, is that illegal?

A. It depends! If you gave them consent, then no, but if they attacked you then they committed the crime of battery, and if you knew the punch/kick/etc. was coming (as in you saw it hit you) then they have committed the tort of assault and you may sue them, and obviously they also committed the crime of battery


Q. What is the difference between assault and battery?

A. Assault is the reasonable fear of immanent danger to your person, as in you saw the punch coming at you before it struck, therefore someone who is asleep cannot be assaulted. Battery is the physical act of illegal contact between people, as in a punch, hitting someone with a bat, etc. Battery also has different degrees depending on the extent and the weapon used.

[Guile]

Basic Legal Information

Q. What is a tort?

A. A tort is a civil offence, as in it is not a crime (but often includes a crime being committed), such as trespassing, larceny, etc. It would not be a tort to shoot at someone from behind, but it would be a crime, so you would not sue them in civil court, but they would be prosecuted in a criminal court.


Q. What is the difference between civil and criminal court?

A. Civil court is where a plaintiff (person suing) tries to acquire money from the defendant (person being sued) for a tort. Criminal court is where the district prosecutor (lawyer for the government) tries to put the defendant (person accused of a crime) in jail/prison. In Civil court the jury has to think that the defendant was more likely then not to have committed the tort (more then 50%), in criminal court it has to be beyond a reasonable doubt that they committed the crime (more then 98%).