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This content is for informational purposes only and is not intended to provide legal advice.
“Stand Your Ground” laws allow individuals to use force against an attacker anywhere they have a right to be without first trying to retreat from the imminent danger. A majority of states have adopted some form of the stand your ground defense.
The stand your ground rule protects individuals who use deadly force to retaliate against deadly aggressors without first trying to retreat from being prosecuted. It alternatively gives such people a valid claim of self-defense against charges like criminal homicide. The prosecution will have the burden of proving the actions of the defendant were not taken in self-defense.
Traditional Self Defense
Before stand your ground laws were enacted, most states followed the traditional self-defense rule that imposed the “duty to retreat.” Under the duty to retreat laws, people were required to try to flee from imminent danger if possible before using force against an attacker. The underlying idea was to reserve using force to only those incidents where there was no safer alternative to the use of force.
If force was used, it had to be proportional to the perceived threat of force being applied by an attacker. For example, if an attacker raises his or her hand or strikes a person with the hand, the person cannot retaliate by shooting the attacker.
The Castle Doctrine
The castle doctrine was developed as an exception to the traditional rule. It gave people more room for using violence against intruders or aggressors in their homes. The doctrine enforces the notion that a person’s home is his or her castle, and so he or she should be under no obligation to retreat from his or her own home (his or her castle) to be safe.
It permits a person to use force, including deadly force, against anyone who has entered the person’s home without his or her permission and poses a serious injury threat. Under the castle doctrine, there is no consideration of the availability of a safe retreat.
Stand Your Ground Extends the Castle Doctrine
Stand your ground laws expand the castle doctrine’s no-duty-to-retreat aspect to confrontations outside the home. Under the laws, a threatened party can use force to defend himself or herself without having to consider retreat, provided that a person is lawfully present at a location.
The threatened party can use force in self-defense, even when a safe route of escape or retreat is available. If a property owner does not take the required steps to keep his or her property safe, the owner may be liable for the injuries that result under premises liability.
Depending on the state laws, the stand your ground doctrine may apply in these situations:
- Next to the house: The stand your ground defense can apply when a confrontation occurs on an individual’s residential property, including the area around the swimming pool, driveway, land around a person’s home, or inside a person’s car.
- Public place: Stand your ground laws may allow people who are threatened with violence or attacked by aggressors in public places to use the force reasonably necessary to repulse the attackers.
- Presumption of fear: Intruders in homes, residential areas, or vehicles may be presumed to be intending to engage in unlawful activities using violence or force. The law can presume people using force against intruders had a fear of violence, so they do not need to produce evidence of their fear.
- Presumption of violence: Because of the presumption of violence on intruders, people acting in self-defense may not have to provide evidence of an intruder’s intent.
Stand your ground laws reduce the barriers for self-defense in threatening situations and protect people against civil liability and criminal prosecution.
A minority of states still impose a duty to retreat, under which people cannot claim self-defense if they could safely retreat before using deadly force. Where the duty to retreat is imposed, the criminal law typically recognizes the castle doctrine as an exception. More than 30 states have “stand your ground” laws or expanded the castle doctrine beyond a person’s home to apply to the workplace or motor vehicles.
Stand Your Ground and the Duty to Retreat Comparisons
A major difference between stand your ground laws and the duty to retreat is the law relating to confrontations outside a person’s home. In “retreat” jurisdictions, just like in stand your ground jurisdictions, the duty to retreat generally does not apply if a person is attacked in his or her residence.
The duty to retreat does not require a person to make a risky escape maneuver before resorting to self-defense. The rule requires safe retreat only when that is feasible. As a result, in both stand your ground and retreat jurisdictions, claims of self-defense are usually permitted in cases where:
- A person reasonably and honestly believes that an attacker had the intention of killing him or her
- The aggressor was trying to commit a serious crime like rape, robbery, kidnapping, or burglary, making the person use deadly force to retaliate
- A person reasonably believed the aggressor was holding a deadly weapon or pulling such a weapon from his or her coat, making the person respond to the perceived threat using deadly force
In both no retreat and retreat jurisdictions, a person’s belief in the need for deadly force should be reasonable and honest.
Self-defense laws, whether the duty to retreat, castle doctrine, or stand your ground, can be challenging to understand. People can be accused of committing a crime while acting within their rights and defending themselves or others. The facts of self-defense cases can take time to establish. For those reasons, it is beneficial for people to have defense attorneys by their side until their cases are closed.
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