2013-12-03 Pretty Badass of you

[Geeno]

I have to make one last comment regarding assault and battery and how horrible Senna was for hitting Gary. I'm not sure about other countries, but the US has the concept of "fighting words". If you deliberately provoke someone to a violent reaction against you; it's YOUR fault not theirs. Once they take a second swing or fire a second shot, then they might get into some trouble; you'll be joining them in jail, of course. Any reasonable person would see that running up to someone you just dumped and laughing about it could be taken as provocation.

[Spidrift]

That's a fairly specifically American legal doctrine, according to Wikipedia, although other jurisdictions have concepts like "breach of the peace". But anyway, "fighting words" don't act as an excuse for assault; they are simply words which can be banned by a law without it counting as restricting freedom of speech.

And even in America, the definition has been narrowed by Supreme Court rulings; it looks like words have to (a) get very personal and (b) lead by their very nature to a breach of the peace, before they count as "fighting words". So the fact that someone is acting like a clueless ass is definitely not in itself grounds for taking a swing at them, twice over. I very much doubt that Senna would dodge a battery rap there, even under US law. It's not like Gary's speech constituted assault or breach of the peace; it was just idiotic.

(And in Canada, it seems, the nearest thing to "fighting words" is incitement of hatred against a group.)

[TheDude]

...you'll be joining them in jail, of course...

That seems to be an other peculiarity of the US legal system. No other western democracy jails people as often and as long - and for offenses that would be considered extremely minor by German standards.

[Geeno]

I've seen "fighting words" get shootings (with guns) set aside as assaults, though they do usually charge some weapons violation. But a single blow in reaction to obvious provocation? The police won't even take notes on the altercation. They'll say "Dude, I would have done worse to you myself; go home", get back in their prowler and get on with their day.
And Spidrift makes the assumption that thinking someone is as clueless as Gary is a reasonable assumption. It's not - no jury in the English speaking world would convict Senna for bashing Gary under the circumstances - assuming, as I said, that she didn't continue bashing him repeatedly. If there's no chance of conviction, there's little chance of arrest in most cases. The police generally know their work.

That seems to be an other peculiarity of the US legal system. No other western democracy jails people as often and as long - and for offenses that would be considered extremely minor by German standards.

In the US, the police can jail you for up to 24 hours without ever charging you with a crime. At 24 hours, they have to charge you or let you go. So if you're going to be charged, then you're going to be jailed. You'll be released on arraignment - when the charge is formally proffered to the court, and the judge sets bail or releases you on your own recognizance.
Until the seventies, almost two thirds of adult American males had spent a night in jail - usually for things on the order of being drunk and disorderly. The percentage has gone down as jail space has become scarce - non-violent drug offenses that carry absurd sentences are taking up all the room now.