Quote Quoting flyingron
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You're going to have to explain what you mean by that.


Harassment is not assault. This adds to the confusion when you bend the terms like this. Anyhow, unless you're trying to achieve some money or other personal gain from the person, threatening to report them to the police is not a crime at all. Of course, YOU can't have someone prosecuted. All you can do is make a complaint, it's up to the state in the form of the police, DA, and the courts to determine if the person is prosecuted.

The law is not your elementary school sandlot. Being an aggressor or not neither makes a criminal activity nor excuses it.
I realize harassment is not an 'assault' -- harassment is a blanket term that can be used to refer to ongoing pattern of many different crimes, including, stalking, assault, threats, etc.

But what is the name of the affirmative defense, under a common law, or statute, that I would invoke in the above scenario, of uttering a verbal threat to report someone for crime, in order to get them to cease and desist from harassment?

What would be the name of the affirmative defense I would invoke if I were charged for circulating a written report of an impending crime or catastrophe in order to defend against this catastrophe knowing it to be a legitimate threat or possibility?

What would be the name of the affirmative defense I would invoke if I were charged with harassment for harassing someone in self-defense to try and get them to stop harassing me when the circumstances on their surface suggest self-defense?

Is there a defense named "justifiable use of force" or "reasonable force" (I know police are allowed to use 'reasonable force' given the circumstances, but I don't see this used to apply to civilians). I see a lot of 'self-defense' discussions and they always refer to acts of physical assault, including justifable homicide, but rarely ever do they refer to self-defense used in instances of non-physical assault.

We all know the rules intuitively -- 'force meets counterforce' and we have the right to use force proportionate to the force or threat being defended against, but I see no law, maxim, or principle on the books that I can invoke to enforce this right.

I'm concerned if I invoke the classic 'self-defense' as an affirmative defense, the judge, prosecutor are going to harass me by saying some non-sense like that only applies to physical assault used in reaction to an imminent physical assault, or threat of bodily harm (i.e., not cases of liberty violations, such as defense or resistance to kidnapping).

I can't reveal personal information for privacy reasons.