I know that this subreddit requires accounts to be 3 days old before posting but I'm hoping that a moderator will review this and won't consider it to be spam. I made my reddit account specifically for this question and after reading over the rules and reddiquette I believe I'm not violating anything.
Now, to describe what happened. My friends and I all live in the state of California and this happened to two of my friends very recently. Both of my friends are males and minors (one being 17 and the other 16). They were smoking weed in the bathrooms belonging to the apartment that my 16 year old friend lives in, a pretty stupid idea considering that while it is private property there is absolutely nothing stopping people from simply walking in. Then, three adults who, according to my friends, looked around 20 approached them and mugged them. One of the men forced one my friends to the ground (the 16 year old) and drew a knife on him, threatening him. They stole their weed, bong, and wallets (they left them their phones or maybe didn't realize that they had phones on them) and fortunately nobody got hurt. My friends are all alright physically and mentally and are mostly just very angry. I know that the self defense laws in California allow you to use the minimum amount of force required to get yourself out of a situation if you honestly believe that you're in danger of receiving bodily harm. Of course, every situation is different which makes identifying when force is necessary very difficult but I think this situation would have definitely justified it. Personally, I wouldn't have fought back because the $70-100 dollars worth of stuff they lost isn't worth risking your life, serious injury, or jail time. However, I know that some of my friends carry knives on them and might have used them in the situation.
Now for the questions: Does it matter a significant amount if the victim of a mugging who feels like he/she has to resort to force, lethal or otherwise, happens to be a minor? Would the situation described above constitute force? Would lethal force be justified?
Submitted June 04, 2017 at 02:36PM by ThreeOuttaTen http://ift.tt/2rznDmj
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