July 10, 2014
Issues Essay: Self Defense Laws
The year is 2014, as many cases make their peer reviews in the spotlight of media and citizens; certain laws have made national headlines. The particular self-defense laws such as “Stand your ground” and “Castle laws” have a variable amount of citizens in an uproar with protests and blog posts.
The stand your ground law has been the source of controversy in a specific case involving a teenager and an appearing seeming concerning citizen. The stand your ground law allows legal racial profiling such as presumed in the following incident “The operator asked Zimmerman if he was following the youth. Zimmerman said yes, and the operator cautioned him not to do that since police were on the way. However, Zimmerman persisted. There was an apparent confrontation during which someone could be heard calling for help. During the confrontation, Zimmerman shot and killed Martin” (Covington, 2012). The defense argued “Where have you seen hoodies like that before? In grainy security camera videos where people are holding up stores.' So an ordinary person (a reasonable person) in my situation would have feared for his life, when he looked at this black young person” (Covington, 2012). This particular law can be misused depending on the individuals interpretation and/or desire to use the law to a way which they deem fit
The Castle laws in means of self-defense of your residence and transportation as a law abiding citizen offers a blanket of protection when using deadly force in a hostile situation. The Castle law touches the subject of retreat first such as mentioned “The Castle Doctrine recognizes that, when in the home, one has, in essence, retreated as far as possible” (Watkins, 2014).
The Castle doctrine also acknowledges what a home environment is such as stated “The Castle Doctrine also affirms that the home should be a sanctuary. A man's home is his castle, as the adage goes, and requiring retreat degrades the sanctity of the home and encourages felonious conduct” (Watkins, 2014). Therefore the home being recognized as a place for sanctuary and particular intruder into the home would merit their reasons for being there are felonious and you should be allowed to use deadly force if necessary when defending your sanctuary.