Criminal Defenses and Criminal Punishments
Evelyn Diaz
Strayer University
LEG 320 Criminal Law
Prof. Stratis-Malak
May 23rd, 2014
Criminal Defenses and Criminal Punishments When determining if the use of force is lawful or justified by the court, various key points involved would have to be evaluated before deciding whether or not the use of force was warranted. Depending on the state statue, for example, if someone uses a Self-Defense and the Defense of Others approach in a court of law, the court would need to take into account three important key points that need to be involved. One being, if the act done by the other person was unlawful, if so, then it would be considered justified; secondly, if the act or force was immediate and necessary to defend yourself; and lastly, if the circumstances were reasonable enough to warrant the amount of force applied in the act. When determining the reasonableness of force used, one would have to take into account the relationship of those involved along with their size and age, and whether the assault was aggressive, and the type of weapon used (Gardner, & Anderson, 2012). Another approach to take when determining lawfulness of the use of force would be, the use of Deadly Force in a Self-Defense or the Defense of Others, would be the Stand Your Ground Law, a Florida Statute, that if and when a person feels that they are in fear of their life, and believe that they are in danger, then they have the right to defend themselves by using force with force including deadly force. Only if they reasonably believe that using force is the only way to prevent death or bodily harm, without the duty to retreat (Gardner, & Anderson, 2012). Again, the court looks for key points such as, Unlawfulness, Necessity, and Reasonableness, in determining if the force used was indeed justified. As for using the Good Samaritan Laws,