Through strange luck, a thread was revived over at MartialTalk that was started by Ron Chapél a couple of years ago. It started with a paper by one Peter Hobarts, Esq., who is a lawyer and martial arts instructor. He wrote an article for Black Belt magazine regarding the legal ‘duty to retreat’ as well. Basically, duty to retreat is your obligation to attempt to avoid a situation where you might have to use force in order to claim ‘self-defense’.
When teaching kempo techniques, many times we pass on techniques that include eye pokes, hitting downed opponents, or other similar ‘finishes’. How do you inform your students of the serious ramifications of these techniques? Are you concerned about liability if one of your students uses a technique that you taught them?
I try to inform my students of the duty to retreat, and about how the law may interpret your actions in ways that may seem bizarre and counter-intuitive.
I would rather a student come back to me and say that they are being brought up on A/B charges for poking an attackers eye then have their spouse come back and ask me to attend his/her funeral.