# Should beating up an annoying jerk be legal?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-beating-up-an-annoying-jerk-be-legal/128092>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [September 12, 2002, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-beating-up-an-annoying-jerk-be-legal/128092 "2002-09-12T10:46:33Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\
**Post date:** [September 14, 2002, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-beating-up-an-annoying-jerk-be-legal/128092/41 "2002-09-14T15:44:37Z")

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Let’s say my wife, who weighs more than me, keeps nagging me about something, and I tell her I don’t want to hear about it anymore. She shoves a bible towards me, because she doesn’t believe me about something and she wants me to swear on it. I slug her hard in the face with my fist, and then I say I felt threatened by her. Do I get off?

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**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\
**Post date:** [September 14, 2002, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-beating-up-an-annoying-jerk-be-legal/128092/42 "2002-09-14T16:58:15Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Walloon \*  
> \*\*Let’s say my wife, who weighs more than me, keeps nagging me about something, and I tell her I don’t want to hear about it anymore. She shoves a bible towards me, because she doesn’t believe me about something and she wants me to swear on it. I slug her hard in the face with my fist, and then I say I felt threatened by her. Do I get off? \*\*

Not unless you have a girlfriend on the side.

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**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\
**Post date:** [September 15, 2002, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-beating-up-an-annoying-jerk-be-legal/128092/43 "2002-09-15T02:18:16Z")

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Back to the OP, and leaving aside the specifics of the Battlin’ Buzz Incident –

No, it should not be generically legal to beat up an annoying jerk.

It _should_ be an admissible _defense_ (or mitigating circumstance) to bring in the extent to which the other guy was being an annoying jerk, on a charge of _hitting_ him – not beating up, just hitting – as long as you did not use excessive force.

Hey, you could have an entire cottage industry of “expert witness” by jerkologists and annoyance therapists …

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