Has anyone else had a similar experience?

Today my stepson and my partner went to the local police station as the boy was beaten up in the street a few weeks ago. They were told that the youth who did the beating had just been interviewed and had admitted it and had received a "reprimand" but if he gets into trouble again he will get a warning!! if he gets into trouble after that he COULD be prosecuted.
We have always told our boys (3 of them) not to fight, which my stepson didn't (hence the beating) in case they get into trouble with the law!!!
They have now been told to hit back and not to worry about the consequences as there aren't any.

Self defense is a legal defense. So you might tell your stepson unless he starts it, he can fight back.

But you're right not to encourage violence in his life.

A close friend of ours had a similar experience. He was beaten up for no apparent reason. He managed to get away, but the thugs then set about his car. It was early in the morning and an older chap happened to be out walking his dog. He saw what what going on and told the lad to call the police on his mobile while the chap covered him. The police came and caught one of the thugs.
The court case happened and the thug pleased guilty - not much else he could have done. The judge ordered he pay £300 in damages, plus court costs. Then his defence proclaimed that he didn't have the money, so the judge ordered him to pay £20 a week.
So the innocent lad has to wait weeks now to get the money so he can repair his car. God knows what it has done to his confidence.

I'm with Al Murry - broken Britain is what we are. Bring back public lashing

Self-defense is the right to use reasonable force to protect oneself or members of the family from bodily harm, or to a lesser extent, one's property, from the attack of an aggressor, if the defender has reason to believe.
I have studies in Law and i know well that there are still some gaps and misconceptions.

Self defence can also apply to protecting someone who you have never met.

What studies, Bella?

Well, but that's dicey, isn't it. Suppose you stepped into a fracas where a man was beating his wife, but when you got there some others were beating up on him. So, you step in and use, say, a firearm on someone who was protecting the wife. Well you can see: protection of others is problematical.

Nowhere was this more obvious than in the attempted assassination of Gabriel Giffords. The one guy with a gun in the crowd, said he would have killed the only person who was trying to subdue the bad guy. Talk about adding insult to injury.