Self Defense Vs. Stand Your Ground Law

The Stand Your Ground Laws are becoming a hot topic in today’s news. Headlines are flooded with stories about cases around the country. These laws surround everyone from your everyday citizens to prominent sports figures and entertainers. The Stand Your Ground laws provide individuals with certain rights to protect themselves in events where they may feel threatened. It is also known as the Castle Rule, most of the United States have adopted some form of this law to protect its’ residents who may feel the need to use self-defense in situations where they may feel threatened. These laws spread quickly around the country since Florida passed the first laws in 2005. The law in most states would suggest that a person attempt to retreat

In the scenario, three individuals, Joe, Larry, and Bob, were convicted criminals and who were speeding in a stolen vehicle, when they saw a group of rivals. Joe was in the passenger seat warning the others that he was going to shoot at the rival members with a weapon he concealed it in his waistband; Larry the driver, drove the vehicle closer to the opponents. At the stop sign, Bob, who was in the back seat, left the car because he was on parole and didn’t want to go back to imprisonment. Afterwards, Larry drove past the adversaries as Joe discharged a few shots; one individual was murder and the other was shot in the leg.

Though each state that has enacted this law has its own interpretations and specifications, the Stand Your Ground Law generally permits the use of deadly force when a person feels a threat of death, serious bodily harm, rape, kidnapping, and robbery in most states, even if there is an option of retreat. The current Stand Your Ground Law, passed by legislation in 2005, applies to public settings; the Castle Doctrine is basically a Stand Your Ground Law that applies to the defense of oneself in a private abode or home. States currently enacting this law include Florida, Alabama, Michigan, Indiana, Nevada, Utah, and 17 others. Stand your ground law provides legal protection for protecting oneself and property at all costs and prevents civil lawsuits.

Rates of homicides increased by 53% in the states with Stand Your Ground laws, while states without the laws decreased 5% (Mayors Against). Can Stand Your Ground laws ever have a positive effect on this country? Stand Your Ground laws allow a person to take any measures in order to defend themselves. To be more specific, fire a gun, even if the person has a chance to retrieve or the situation can be avoided. This can result in many issues for everyone. Stand Your Ground Laws are unethical and all Americans should be against them in order to eliminate them.

Define self-defense? Self-defense is when someone protects them self from harm way. In the novel of The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, Johnny Cade has been carrying a concealed weapon on him everytime he went outside. When he and Ponyboy Curtis walk down the streets they were ambushed by Socs. When Bob, the reason why Johnny is carrying a weapon, decides to drown his friend, out of self-defense Johnny stabbed Bob. Johnny was still innocent because he stabbed Bob due to self-defense, to scare off the other Soc, and to save Ponyboy from drowning.

The "Stand Your Ground" statute states that “a person who is not engaged in an unlawful activity and who is attacked in any other place where he or she has a right to be has no duty to retreat and has the right to stand his or her ground and meet force with force, including deadly force if he or she reasonably believes it is necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another or to prevent the commission of a forcible felony” (Sherman). Many people will say that the “Stand your Ground” law is a great law that has diminished the crime rate, made people feel safer in their neighborhood and has given the people back the power to protect themselves and their loved ones from fatal danger. I would have to

In today’s hot topic news there is constant issues with the Stand Your Ground Law. The headlines, television, and social media are overflowing with cases about shootings all around the country. The Stand Your Ground Law creates immunity for an individual who uses deadly force under the belief that he or she is threatened by another person. This law is also called the Castle Rule. Most of the states in the U.S. have adopted some type of form of this law to protect its residents who may feel the need to use self defense in situations where they may feel threatened. This has mainly became a race issue between white police officers and African American citizens. A solution that we can use to help solve a lot of the crimes that associates with the

To begin, what is the “Stand Your Ground Law”? Well many states such as: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia have stand your ground laws which state that individuals do not have to retreat before using force in a self- defense situation or many states have laws that are remarkably similar to stand your ground laws. Stand Your Ground laws started in 2005 when Florida was the first state that passed the stand your ground law which basically allowed individuals to stand their ground instead of fleeing or retreating if they believed

Under common law a private citizen acting alone may have a defense to use non-deadly force to make an arrest if the person reasonably believes such force in necessary to make an arrest

The United States’ Stand Your Ground law, states that any and all individuals have no duty to retreat from any place they have lawful right to be, and may use any level of force, including lethal, if they reasonably believe they face an imminent and immediate threat of serious bodily harm, or death. Forty-six states have adopted a type of “Castle Doctrine,” meaning that a person has no duty to retreat when their home is under attack. Twenty-two states have removed that duty to retreat from other places in public as well. In those states the Stand Your Ground law thus states that a person has no duty to abandon a place that they have the right to be, or to give up ground to an assailant. These descriptions leave quite a large gray area, and many questions to be asked. So then, do Stand Your Ground laws need to be redefined, providing a clear answer to any and all questions that are asked about these laws?

I’ve always been interested in as to why the Stand Your Ground law hasn’t been implemented in each state of the country. There have been many incidents that has questioned the limitation of the law. There have been arguments as to why the law should be kept or abolished, which is my reasoning for choosing this topic. I’m looking to seek more information as to why the law could be useful to society and how it could also be dangerous as well.

The “Stand your ground” decree has quite a few consequences. For instance the homicide rate continues to rise, there is no justice for the deceased, shooters stand justified, and often depart unpunished, and citizens are buying new guns. In addition, this law remains unconstitutional, and will influence the nation in a destructive way. These laws aren’t in the best interest of both parties in the situations. The deceased suffers no rights to be heard. The killer goes unpunished. Who has the best results in these circumstances? Shouldn’t the laws of America have the welfare of all its’ citizen in the forefront. Eventually the “stand your ground” laws should be reformed, since the minority clearly benefit from the law and the minority

By reinforcing the government's definition of self-defense, citizens would have an easier time differentiating between a reasonable cause or deadly violence. A reporter from CBS news speaks of 16-year-old Mindy, charged of murder, "Her defense hinged on the claim that the physical and emotional abuse she says she suffered at the hands of her father left her in such terror of him that one look from him that night sent her over the edge". In this case, A daughter of an abusive father was pushed past her limits and ended all of her physical and mental pain by killing her father to protect herself. This brings up the subject of imperfect

Necessity defense refers to situation in which you are forced to commit a crime to defend yourself from harm. Most people would just call this self-defense. In order for this to be legally achieved, certain criteria must be met. A person must be defending themselves against what they believe to be serious bodily harm. There must be no other legal way to prevent or remedy the situation. Lastly, the harm that you prevented needs to be greater than the impact of the crime you committed protecting yourself.