Four Principles For Surviving A Violent Crime

By Matthew Schafer
Copyright 2010, All Rights Reserved



Principle Number One: Always Resist Your Attacker

A lot of the so called "experts" tell you to not resist being victimized, to give a criminal everything they want and hope that they take what they want and leave. While it is usually better to give up a purse or wallet then risk serious injury fighting with a criminal, if they want something more than a material possession I advise you to ALWAYS fight back, even if you don't know how. If all you do is to aggressively start hitting them and screaming it could be enough to create a chance for you to escape or convince him to leave.

Don't listen to people who tell you not to fight back, and that if you do then you're just inviting more violence from the attacker. Federal victimization studies show that people who resist an attacker and fight back are not injured any more than those who don't. The fact is that it is just the opposite. Studies have shown that over half of all attackers will actually leave if the person indicates that they will resist. So if they want your purse or wallet it may be better just to give it to them, but if they want more there isn't any benefit to not fighting back.

It may be necessary to comply with your attacker(s) at first if the odds are overwhelmingly against you. For example, if you are accosted by three men with guns you may not be able not be able to resist at that time without getting killed. However, if you comply at first you may find that in a few minutes they let their guard down, each go into different rooms, or put down their weapons and now a situation exists where resisting is possible and practical to create a situation where you can escape.

There may be times when you must give in and comply with their demands initially, but whether it’s a few seconds, minutes, hours, days, or even weeks, sooner or later a situation will present itself where they’ll let their guard down and escape becomes possible.

Principle Number Two: Never Allow Yourself To Get Taken To A Second Location

Statistics show that if you allow yourself to be taken from where you are initially attacked to a secondary location you will have only a 3% chance of survival. Never allow yourself to be taken to a secondary location.

If a person tries to get you into a vehicle or take you from the location of the initial assault then you should hit, kick, bite, scream, and try to run like your life depends on it. You can not be able to overcome your attacker but you might alert someone in the area to what’s happening or create a situation where you can escape.


Principle Number Three: Pain Doesn’t Matter, Only Injury Does

When you are physically defending yourself do not focus on causing your attacker pain because pain is very subjective and not at all reliable. If your attacker has a low pain tolerance or is easily frightened then it may take very little on your part to make him or her stop. However, if they have a high pain tolerance then causing them pain may do little, and if they enjoy pain then causing them pain may encourage them. If your attacker is one of the 63% that commit their crimes while on drugs or alcohol their pain receptor may be numb and you can cause them all the pain you want and see little to no effect.

When I say "injure" I mean that you have to take a part of their body and render it nonfunctional and in need of medical treatment.

If a violent criminal grabs you and you punch them in the face the result would be pain and that pain may only serve to make them mad because the punch didn't actually "do" anything. If, however, you lowered the punch and hit them in the throat you could cause an injury by crushing their windpipe. A crushed windpipe is not subjective nor is it something you can "shake off". If your windpipe is crushed you will not be able to breathe, which will quickly induce panic, and unless a tracheotomy is preformed you will die of asphyxiation. While punching them in the face will probably just make them angry, punching them in the throat and crushing it will cause them to stop their attack, involuntarily grab their throat, make a high pitched noise while trying to inhale, drop to the ground in a panic, and continue to make the noise until they...well...stop.

To give another example, if you tear the connective tissue in someone’s knee it will be structurally unsound and unable to bear the person’s weight. It doesn’t matter in the slightest if that knee being “broken” causes him pain or not, what matters is that leg will be of no use to him. He will not be able to chase you or kick you and that will give you opportunity to injure him further or escape.

The point is that the punch to the face is an example of pain and the punch to the throat is an example of a medically verified injury. A criminal will only stop their attack for two reasons: if they decide to stop, or if you make them stop, and the only way to make them stop is to stop the functioning of a part, or all, of their body.

The way to get to an injury is to target specific parts of their bodies that are most susceptible to impact trauma and them drive as much for as you can all the way THROUGH them.

Principle Number Four: If You Can Think And Move Than You Can Resist, Escape, And Cause Injury

It doesn’t what you’re up against, it doesn’t matter if your outnumbered, trapped, bound, or beaten; if you can think and move you can resist, escape, and cause injury.

Many crimes start with the victim being struck, stabbed, or shot. An attack my seem to come out of nowhere and start with you being injured. No matter what is happening take a second to go through a mental checklist:

Am I still alive? Yes.

Can I still think? Yes

Can I move? Yes

Then I can cause injury, resist, and escape