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Castle Doctrine in Conjunction with Home Safety Essay

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Castle Doctrine in Conjunction with Home Safety
Stop right there intruder! The Castle Doctrine’s premise, frequently credited to Semayne’s Case (Light, 2012), “[e]very man’s house is his castle” ("Semayne's case," 1604), is a citizen’s right to protect, with deadly force, their life and property when an intruder enters unlawfully into their dwelling. This is unlike most self-defense laws, which require withdrawing from harms path until you are backed into a corner and have no other exit (Light, 2012). While residing in one’s dwelling, everyone should feel secure without the worry of intrusion, burglary, or bodily harm. The rights defined by the Castle Doctrine have become imperative in the last decade due to the decreased use of…show more content…
The Castle Doctrine provides an umbrella under which residents can protect themselves (Light, 2012) when police are unable to arrive to the scene in a reasonable amount of time. During a home invasion, seconds are the difference between life and death. While average response times range in the minutes, lethally protecting yourself in your home can be substantially shorter. This doctrine takes some protection burden from police and allows citizens to protect themselves without fear of criminal liability. Not only are police response times increasing, so are violent crimes in the U.S. According to D. Leger (2013) “Violent crime in the United States rose for the second year in a row”, these figures are off a 2012 survey conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics. The Federal Bureau of Investigations constitutes violent crimes as murder, forced rape, robbery, and aggravated assault ("Crime in the," 2012). Residents need to have a legal shield for protecting themselves during a violent crime inside their home; this legal shield is the Castle Doctrine (Light, 2012). Violent criminals do not have regards about laws that law-abiding citizens have. They will inflict bodily harm to cover their illicit activities without the worry of legal repercussions. Law-abiding citizens should have the right and
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