?扇耳光是否合法？Is It Ever Legal to Punch Someone in the Face?

???這一耳光下去，全世界都吃起了瓜。在3月27日，第94屆奧斯卡頒獎(jiǎng)典禮的電視直播中，克里斯·洛克（Chris Rock）拿賈達(dá)·萍克特·史密斯（Jada Pinkett Smith）的光頭開(kāi)了個(gè)玩笑。她本人翻了個(gè)白眼，而她的丈夫威爾·史密斯（Will Smith）的反應(yīng)卻激烈得多。他走上臺(tái)，給了洛克一耳光，并警告他，“別用你的臟嘴開(kāi)我妻子的玩笑！” 據(jù)CNN報(bào)道，洛克并未動(dòng)手還擊，在其后也并未起訴威爾。社交媒體上的反應(yīng)可謂兩極分化，一方為威爾·史密斯的護(hù)妻行為喝彩（其妻子賈達(dá)患有脫發(fā)癥），另一方則認(rèn)為他行為出格。

????It was the slap heard around the world. When Chris Rock made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith's shaved head during the telecast of the 94th Oscars ceremony March 27, it elicited an eye roll from her and a much more heated reaction from her husband Will. He approached the stage, slapped Rock in the face and then told Rock, "Keep my wife's name out of your ****ing mouth!" Rock didn't retaliate physically nor did he press charges later, CNN reported. Reaction on social media was split between those who applauded Will for defending Jada (who has alopecia) and those who thought he was out of order for his attack on Rock.

????其實(shí)在電影和電視劇中，耳光已經(jīng)大家都看膩的老一套了。但是在現(xiàn)實(shí)生活中，打人不僅大概率會(huì)使你自己的手受傷，而且在大多數(shù)的情況下都是違法行為。那么問(wèn)題來(lái)了，有沒(méi)有一種情況，是你可以合法的給別人倆耳光的呢？

????Face-punching in movies and TV shows is a well-known cliché. But in real life, clocking someone is not only a great way to break your hand, but also in the majority of cases, illegal. Is there ever a situation in which you are legally justified to pop someone in their mug?

????2017年時(shí)，我們采訪了加州刑事辯護(hù)律師、Nolo管理編輯米迦·施瓦茲巴赫(Micah Schwartzbach)，并向他提出了這一問(wèn)題。長(zhǎng)話短說(shuō)——“有”，但是這一耳光必須是出于自衛(wèi)。

????In 2017, we took the question to Micah Schwartzbach, a California criminal defense lawyer and managing editor at Nolo. In short, the answer is "yes" — but the punch has to be made in self-defense.

????施瓦茨巴赫說(shuō)：“簡(jiǎn)單來(lái)說(shuō)，你肯定不能是攻擊方，且必須理由充分，認(rèn)為只有動(dòng)用武力才能保護(hù)自己，免受緊急暴力傷害。最重要的是，你采取的武力必須適度?！?/span>

????"In general, you have to not be the aggressor and you have to reasonably believe that force is necessary to protect yourself from some imminent violence," said Schwartzbach. "And on top of that, you have to use a proportionate amount of force."

????要區(qū)分合法耳光和非法耳光，有幾個(gè)非常重要的要點(diǎn)。第一，你不能先動(dòng)手。這會(huì)讓你成為攻擊方。當(dāng)你先出手時(shí)，就很難說(shuō)是正當(dāng)防衛(wèi)了。

????There are some really important points for distinguishing between a legal and illegal punch. No.1, you can't strike first. That would make you the aggressor. It's hard to argue self-defense when you're literally on the attack.

????第二，只有當(dāng)別人已經(jīng)向你揮了一拳，或者當(dāng)你認(rèn)為自己被擊中時(shí)，你才能出手。施瓦茨巴赫表示，如果在攻擊者準(zhǔn)備打你時(shí)，你反手給了他一拳，也可以稱自己是出于自衛(wèi)，但你必須出手夠快才行。

????Second, you can only punch someone if they've already taken a swing at you, or if you believe you're about to be hit. Schwartzbach said that it's also possible to claim self-defense if you punch your attacker while he's winding up to smack you, but you'd need some fast hands.

????第三，你不能拱火。如果在酒吧里，一個(gè)醉漢覺(jué)得你在瞟他女朋友（是，老一套了），然后推了你肩膀，你就拿著酒瓶子給他頭上來(lái)一下，這可不能稱為合法行為。扇耳光、打他一拳、攻他下三路都不能稱為合法。

????And third, you can't escalate the fight. If the drunk guy at the bar doesn't like the way you're looking at his girlfriend (yes, another cliché) and shoves you on the shoulder, you're not justified to break a bottle over his head. You're probably not even justified to punch him. Or slap him. Or kick him in the goodies.

????施瓦茨巴赫解釋道：“只有當(dāng)傷害迫在眉睫時(shí)，才能進(jìn)行自衛(wèi)。最重要的一點(diǎn)是，除了動(dòng)手沒(méi)有別的選擇?！北Ｗo(hù)其他人時(shí)，道理也是一樣。只要你有理由相信他人處于緊急的暴力威脅中，而你沒(méi)有其他手段，你就可以入場(chǎng)，開(kāi)始大殺四方。

????"Self-defense applies where the harm is imminent," Schwartzbach explained. "The theory is that you don't have an alternative." The same is true if you're coming to the defense of another person. If you reasonably believe that they're in imminent danger of violence and you have no other alternative, you can step in and start punching.

口嗨?Fighting Words

????那么“口嗨”又當(dāng)如何？如果別人對(duì)你進(jìn)行辱罵、挑釁或威脅，你可以出手嗎？

????What about the "fighting words" argument? Aren't you allowed to defend yourself if someone verbally accosts, provokes or threatens you?

????施瓦茨巴赫說(shuō)：“這一點(diǎn)上，人們應(yīng)該對(duì)自衛(wèi)存在普遍的誤解”

????"That's perhaps the most common misconception about self-defense," said Schwartzbach.

????雖然“口嗨”并不受言論自由的保護(hù)，但對(duì)它拳打腳踢仍舊是違法行為。施瓦茨巴赫表示，即使有人口嗨，威脅說(shuō)要把你打得連親媽都不認(rèn)識(shí)，甚至干掉你，法律也無(wú)法賦予你教他們做人的權(quán)力。

????Even though "fighting words" aren't protected as free speech, they're still not a legal justification for violence. Schwartzbach said that even if someone threatens you and said they're going to beat you up or kill you, the law doesn't give you the right to slug them.

????施瓦茨巴赫表示，如果有人威脅說(shuō)要干掉你，你二話不說(shuō)便重拳出擊，大家可以理解這種行為。但是如果對(duì)方并沒(méi)有做出要傷害你的實(shí)際行為，且你又有足夠的時(shí)間報(bào)警，那么可能就無(wú)法受到法律保護(hù)。

????"It's one thing for it to be 'understandable' that someone threatens to kill you and you punch them in the face," said Schwartzbach. "But if there's no indication that the person was about to harm you in some way and you had time to go talk to the police, you're likely not going to have a legal defense."

????我們討論一個(gè)行為合法與否時(shí)，有一點(diǎn)很重要——雖然美國(guó)各州刑法對(duì)于自衛(wèi)行為定義較為一致，但法律的執(zhí)行和解釋依舊因州而異，因區(qū)而異，因案而異。

????Which brings up an important caveat when discussing the "legality" of anything. While criminal law regarding self-defense is pretty consistent across the United States, the enforcement and interpretation of the law varies state by state, precinct by precinct and case by case.

????施瓦茨巴赫說(shuō)道：“因?yàn)榇祟惏讣臄?shù)量眾多，警方和檢方的自由裁量權(quán)便會(huì)發(fā)揮很大作用。如果是大城市，你和某人在酒吧‘打成一片’。檢察官面對(duì)著海一般的案件卷宗，而你這兒好像也沒(méi)誰(shuí)受重傷，他可能也就不予追究了。所有案件都取決于處理者的態(tài)度。

????"With so much of this kind of stuff, police and prosecutorial discretion comes into play," Schwartzbach said. "If you're in a big metro area and there's a scuffle at a bar and someone got punched, and the prosecutors are otherwise flooded by cases, and no one seems to be really hurt, they may not pursue the case. As with everything, it depends on the people you're dealing with."

????即使區(qū)檢察院決定起訴你，你的行為是否屬于自衛(wèi)，你的揮拳是否合法，最終還是需要陪審團(tuán)來(lái)敲定。在人身傷害罪的審判中，檢察官需要證明你打出的那一耳光是處于“合理懷疑”。這需要依據(jù)目擊者證詞、警方證據(jù)、以及你對(duì)那個(gè)黑眼圈倒霉蛋的證詞。

????And even if the district attorney's office decides to press charges, ultimately it's a jury that's going to decide if you truly acted in self-defense and if your punch was justified. In a criminal trial for assault and battery, the prosecutor has to disprove "beyond a reasonable doubt" that you threw the punch in self-defense. That's going to depend on witness testimonies, police evidence and your word against the dude with the black eye.

????但還有個(gè)棘手的部分：即使你僥幸逃脫了刑事指控，你可能還會(huì)被送上民事法庭。如果被你揍的那個(gè)家伙受了重傷，耽誤了工作或者遭受了心理創(chuàng)傷，他變可以起訴你要求賠償。電影可不會(huì)給你把這部分演出來(lái)。

????Here's the tricky part, though. Even if you are acquitted of criminal charges for punching someone, you can still be sued in civil court. If the person you punched sustained a serious injury, missed work or suffered psychological trauma from the incident, he can sue you for damages. You won't see that one in the movies.

?

還有個(gè)問(wèn)題 Now That's a Tough One

????給納粹一拳可以嗎？這個(gè)問(wèn)題曾在2017年1月在推特上激起討論。當(dāng)時(shí)一名蒙面抗議者給極右翼領(lǐng)袖理查德·斯賓塞（Richard Spencer）頭上來(lái)了一拳，事情經(jīng)過(guò)被完整記錄了下來(lái)。

????Is it OK to punch a Nazi? That's a question that stumped Twitter back in January 2017 when a masked protester punched alt-right leader Richard Spencer in the head and the whole thing was caught on tape.

詞表 Vocabulary

Slap /sl?p/ n. /adj. 掌擊，巴掌

eye roll /a? ro?l/ n. /v. 翻白眼

retaliate physically /r??t?lie?t f?z?k?li/ v. 以物理方式報(bào)復(fù)

cliché /kli??e?/ n. /adj. 陳詞濫調(diào)，老生常談

criminal /?kr?m?nl/ n. /adj. 罪犯的，刑事的

self-defense /s?lf d??f?ns/ n. 自衛(wèi)，正當(dāng)防衛(wèi)

aggressor /??ɡr?s?r/ n. 侵略者，攻擊者

imminent /??m?n?nt/ adj. 即將發(fā)生的，迫近的

shove /??v/ v. /n. 推搡，猛推

alternative /?l?t?rn?t?v/ n. /adj. 另類選擇，替代的

misconception /?m?sk?n?s?p??n/ n. 誤解，錯(cuò)誤觀念

free speech /fri spi?/ n. 言論自由

consistent /k?n?s?st?nt/ adj. 一致的，連續(xù)的

discretion /d?s?kr???n/ n. 謹(jǐn)慎，判斷力

jury /???ri/ n. 陪審團(tuán)

assault and battery /??s?lt ?nd ?b?t?ri/ n. 襲擊和毆打，人身傷害

witness /?w?tn?s/ n. /v. 目擊者，證人

testimony /?t?st??mo?ni/ n. 證詞，證言

black eye /bl?k a?/ n. 黑眼圈，眼部瘀傷

civil court /?s?v?l k?rt/ n. 民事法庭

psychological trauma /?sa?k??lɑd??k?l ?tr?m?/ n. 心理創(chuàng)傷

來(lái)源：https://people.howstuffworks.com/when-legal-punch-someone-face.htm

翻譯/整理：QuasimodoW9