Stand Your Ground Research Papers

In 2005, Florida became the first state out of 23 within the Castle Doctrine to expand a person’s rights to defend themselves with deadly force instead of just reasonable force. In most states (under the Castle Doctrine) you can protect yourself while inside your home but while on the streets you have a “duty to retreat” in order to avoid confrontation. If one doesn’t try to retreat and shoots instead, one can be prosecuted. In most states this law is referred to as the Castle doctrine. But in Florida, it is known as the “stand your ground” law. Reason being is unlike other states, you have no duty to retreat. You can rightfully defend yourself outside of your home too. If one claims self defense, that person is immune from criminal or civil…show more content…
The law gives citizens too much freedom when it comes to using deadly force and just isn’t descriptive enough on the fact that the point of the law should be to defend yourself. It gives people the rights to shoot first and ask questions later, and many times its hard to prove or often not proven at all that the victim was threatening the defender in the first place. Deadly force should be used as a last resort; after all other options have been exhausted. This law has caused people to act in such ways where deadly force could have been avoided. The doctrine only requires one to believe or imagine they are in danger. Murders should not be justified because a person had a misconception or read the situation in a false…show more content…
"Should 'Stand Your Ground' Laws Be Repealed? Join The Debate With Michael Bloomberg, Ken Blackwell." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 13 Apr. 2012. Web. 30 Nov. 2012. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/13/debate-stand-your-ground-laws-repealed_n_1423578.html>. * Epps, Garrett. "The History of Florida's "Stand Your Ground" Law." The American Prospect. N.p., 21 Mar. 2012. Web. 30 Nov. 2012. <http://prospect.org/article/history-floridas-stand-your-ground-law>. * Weinstein, Adam, and Mojo News Team. "The Trayvon Martin Killing, Explained." Mother Jones. N.p., 18 Mar. 2012. Web. 30 Nov. 2012. <http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/03/what-happened-trayvon-martin-explained>. * Zalewski, Michael. "Are Stand Your Ground Laws a Good Idea?" US News. U.S.News & World Report, 28 Mar. 2012. Web. 30 Nov. 2012. <http://www.usnews.com/debate-club/are-stand-your-ground-laws-a-good-idea/stand-your-ground-makes-one-person-judge-jury-and-executioner>. * Legislature, Florida. "Statutes & Constitution :View Statutes : Online Sunshine." Statutes & Constitution :View Statutes : Online Sunshine. Florida Legislature, 30 Nov. 2012. Web. 30 Nov. 2012.