【科普/双语】扇耳光是否合法？Is It Ever Legal to Punch Someone in the Face_观察

这一耳光下去，全世界都吃起了瓜。在3月27日，第94届奥斯卡颁奖典礼的电视直播中，克里斯·洛克（Chris Rock）拿贾达·萍克特·史密斯（Jada Pinkett Smith）的光头开了个玩笑。她本人翻了个白眼，而她的丈夫威尔·史密斯（Will Smith）的反应却激烈得多。他走上台，给了洛克一耳光，并警告他，“别用你的脏嘴开我妻子的玩笑！” 据CNN报道，洛克并未动手还击，在其后也并未起诉威尔。社交媒体上的反应可谓两极分化，一方为威尔·史密斯的护妻行为喝彩（其妻子贾达患有脱发症），另一方则认为他行为出格。

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.

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其实在电影和电视剧中，耳光已经大家都看腻的老一套了。但是在现实生活中，打人不仅大概率会使你自己的手受伤，而且在大多数的情况下都是违法行为。那么问题来了，有没有一种情况，是你可以合法的给别人俩耳光的呢？

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年时，我们采访了加州刑事辩护律师、Nolo管理编辑米迦·施瓦兹巴赫(Micah Schwartzbach)，并向他提出了这一问题。长话短说——“有”，但是这一耳光必须是出于自卫。

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.

施瓦茨巴赫说：“简单来说，你肯定不能是攻击方，且必须理由充分，认为只有动用武力才能保护自己，免受紧急暴力伤害。最重要的是，你采取的武力必须适度。”

"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."

要区分合法耳光和非法耳光，有几个非常重要的要点。第一，你不能先动手。这会让你成为攻击方。当你先出手时，就很难说是正当防卫了。

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，只有当别人已经向你挥了一拳，或者当你认为自己被击中时，你才能出手。施瓦茨巴赫表示，如果在攻击者准备打你时，你反手给了他一拳，也可以称自己是出于自卫，但你必须出手够快才行。

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，一个醉汉觉得你在瞟他女朋友（是，老一套了），然后推了你肩膀，你就拿着酒瓶子给他头上来一下，这可不能称为合法行为。扇耳光、打他一拳、攻他下三路都不能称为合法。

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.

施瓦茨巴赫解释道：“只有当伤害迫在眉睫时，才能进行自卫。最重要的一点是，除了动手没有别的选择。”保护其他人时，道理也是一样。只要你有理由相信他人处于紧急的暴力威胁中，而你没有其他手段，你就可以入场，开始大杀四方。

"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”又当如何？如果别人对你进行辱骂、挑衅或威胁，你可以出手吗？

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

施瓦茨巴赫说：“这一点上，人们应该对自卫存在普遍的误解”

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

虽然“口嗨”并不受言论自由的保护，但对它拳打脚踢仍旧是违法行为。施瓦茨巴赫表示，即使有人口嗨，威胁说要把你打得连亲妈都不认识，甚至干掉你，法律也无法赋予你教他们做人的权力。

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，如果有人威胁说要干掉你，你二话不说便重拳出击，大家可以理解这种行为。但是如果对方并没有做出要伤害你的实际行为，且你又有足够的时间报警，那么可能就无法受到法律保护。

"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."

我们讨论一个行为合法与否时，有一点很重要——虽然美国各州刑法对于自卫行为定义较为一致，但法律的执行和解释依旧因州而异，因区而异，因案而异。

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.

施瓦茨巴赫说道：“因为此类案件的数量众多，警方和检方的自由裁量权便会发挥很大作用。如果是大城市，你和某人在酒吧‘打成一片’。检察官面对着海一般的案件卷宗，而你这儿好像也没谁受重伤，他可能也就不予追究了。所有案件都取决于处理者的态度。

"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."

即使区检察院决定起诉你，你的行为是否属于自卫，你的挥拳是否合法，最终还是需要陪审团来敲定。在人身伤害罪的审判中，检察官需要证明你打出的那一耳光是处于“合理怀疑”。这需要依据目击者证词、警方证据、以及你对那个黑眼圈倒霉蛋的证词。

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.

但还有个棘手的部分：即使你侥幸逃脱了刑事指控，你可能还会被送上民事法庭。如果被你揍的那个家伙受了重伤，耽误了工作或者遭受了心理创伤，他变可以起诉你要求赔偿。电影可不会给你把这部分演出来。

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.

还有个问题 Now That's a Tough One

给纳粹一拳可以吗？这个问题曾在2017年1月在推特上激起讨论。当时一名蒙面抗议者给极右翼领袖理查德·斯宾塞（Richard Spencer）头上来了一拳，事情经过被完整记录了下来。

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.

词表 Vocabulary

Slap /slæp/n. /adj. 掌击，巴掌

eye roll /aɪ roʊl/n. /v. 翻白眼

retaliate physically /rɪˈtælieɪt fɪzɪkəli/v. 以物理方式报复

cliché /kliˈʃeɪ/n. /adj. 陈词滥调，老生常谈

criminal /ˈkrɪmɪnl/n. /adj. 罪犯的，刑事的

self-defense /sɛlf dɪˈfɛns/n. 自卫，正当防卫

aggressor /əˈɡrɛsər/n. 侵略者，攻击者

imminent /ˈɪmɪnənt/adj. 即将发生的，迫近的

shove /ʃʌv/v. /n. 推搡，猛推

alternative /ɔlˈtɜrnətɪv/n. /adj. 另类选择，替代的

misconception /ˌmɪskənˈsɛpʃən/n. 误解，错误观念