Self-defense / D2
Standing your ground
On the street, a stranger attacks the person with fists. The person could safely walk away but instead punches back once, breaking the attacker's nose.
What we score
Does the law impose a duty to retreat, and what typically happens?
Default assumptions: Unless a vignette says otherwise, the person is a 30-year-old citizen of sound mind with no criminal record, acting alone, on their own behalf and not for profit, in an ordinary residential area. Where subnational units (states, provinces, cantons, Länder) make their own law, each unit is scored and the result is weighted by population. 'The state' includes police, prosecutors, courts, regulators, tax authorities and anyone acting on their orders, including platforms obeying takedown orders.
Score anchors
Both the law score and the practice score use these anchors. Half points are used when a country sits between two of them.
| Score | What it means for this vignette |
|---|---|
| 10 | No duty to retreat; no arrest or charge. |
| 8 | No duty to retreat; brief questioning. |
| 6 | No formal duty, but courts weigh the chance to retreat; often charged, usually acquitted. |
| 4 | Duty to retreat; charge likely. |
| 2 | Conviction likely: fine or under 1 year. |
| 1 | Conviction likely: 1 to 5 years. |
Evidence used: Duty-to-retreat rules; stand-your-ground statutes; case law and charging practice.
How each country scores
| Country | Law | Practice | Process | Score | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Germany | 10 | 8 | −0.5 | 8.3 | German law imposes no duty to retreat ('Das Recht braucht dem Unrecht nicht zu weichen'). One punch against a fist attacker is a necessary defence under § 32 StGB. Because police must open an investigation (Legalitätsprinzip), both parties typically get assault reports, and the defender's case is dropped. |
| United States | 9 | 7.5 | 0 | 8.1 | 38 states impose no duty to retreat in public (30 by statute, 8 by case law). In the remaining duty-to-retreat states the rule applies only to deadly force, so one punch in response to a fist attack needs no retreat anywhere. In practice police at a street fight with an injury often arrest or cite both parties until self-defence is sorted out, which keeps the de facto score below the de jure score. |
| Czechia | 8 | 8 | 0 | 8.0 | Self-defence (§ 29) has no subsidiarity requirement, so there is no duty to retreat, unlike necessity (§ 28). Only manifestly disproportionate defence is unlawful. A single punch answering an ongoing fist attack is within the standard, and in practice such cases end at the police-inquiry stage. |
| Switzerland | 8 | 6.5 | −0.5 | 6.6 | Swiss law has no duty to retreat: Art. 15 allows proportionate defence against any unlawful attack, and one punch against a fist attack is proportionate. In practice, both sides of a street fight often file complaints for simple assault (Art. 123, on complaint), and prosecutors may examine brawl liability (Art. 133, which exempts a participant acting purely in self-defence) before dismissing. |
| Denmark | 7 | 6 | 0 | 6.4 | § 13 has no duty to retreat: defence must be 'necessary' to repel the attack and not obviously excessive. Courts consider whether the defender could have avoided the fight when judging necessity. One punch against a fist attack is usually accepted as self-defence, though police often record an assault complaint and the case may go to court on the facts. |
| United Kingdom | 6 | 7 | −0.5 | 6.1 | There is no duty to retreat, but CJIA 2008 s76(6A) makes the possibility of retreat a factor in judging reasonable force. Outside the home, force must not be disproportionate (s76(6)). A single punch back against a fist attack is usually treated as reasonable; police often arrest or interview both parties, and most such cases end with no further action. |
| New Zealand | 6 | 7 | −0.5 | 6.1 | Crimes Act s48 imposes no formal duty to retreat, but the jury judges whether the force was reasonable, and the chance to walk away is part of that. Police advise that the idea is 'to defend yourself, not to cause injury or get revenge'. A single punch back that breaks an attacker's nose is usually treated as reasonable, though both parties may be questioned and occasionally charged. |
| Ireland | 6 | 7 | −0.5 | 6.1 | Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997 s18 justifies reasonable force in self-defence, but s20(4) says the chance to retreat 'shall be taken into account' in judging whether the force was reasonable. A single punch back against a fist attack is usually treated as reasonable. Gardaí may arrest or question both parties to a street fight, and self-defence is often decided at trial. No charging data were found. |
| Netherlands | 5 | 6 | 0 | 5.6 | In its 2016 overview ruling, the Hoge Raad held that self-defence fails the subsidiarity test where the defendant 'not only could, but also should have withdrawn' from the attack; the mere possibility of escape is not enough to reject the defence, but a real and reasonable safe escape counts against it. This is a qualified duty to retreat. A single punch that breaks the nose may also be judged disproportionate. Such incidents are usually investigated as mutual assault and are often dropped or settled with a fine. |
| Mexico | 6 | 6 | −0.5 | 5.5 | Federal Penal Code art. 15 IV requires a real, current attack, 'necesidad de la defensa' and rational means. There is no statutory duty to retreat, and Mexican doctrine does not treat flight as required, but courts weigh necessity. A broken nose that takes more than 15 days to heal is lesiones: 4 months to 2 years (CPF art. 289), prosecuted on complaint. Fist fights usually end with both parties taken before the prosecutor and settled through mediation or reparation. |
| Singapore | 6 | 4 | 0 | 4.8 | There is no statutory duty to retreat, but s98(2) denies private defence where there was a 'reasonable opportunity to have recourse to the protection of a public authority', and s98(1) caps the harm at what is reasonably necessary. A broken nose is grievous hurt (fracture), punishable under s325 with up to 10 years plus a fine or caning. The defender must prove private defence, which makes a charge for hurt or fighting likely in a street fight they could have walked away from. |