More than half of all states in the United States have ‘stand your ground laws,’ which preserve an individual’s legal right to use deadly force (i.e., a gun or knife) to defend themselves in any setting or situation in which they feel threatened and have reason to believe that they face the risk of serious harm, without requiring that the individual attempt retreat to safety before using force (Lithwick). According to Lithwick,
“Stand your ground” laws are different from the Castle Doctrine, which has its roots in centuries-old British common law and allows you to use force to protect yourself in your home. “Stand your ground” essentially provides that you can bring your castle wherever you go. The rule allows you to shoot first, not just
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These cases have brought much attention to the “stand your ground” laws, and have fueled the national debate about whether or not these laws actually protect people from serious harm, or lead to more shootings and shooting deaths. One of the most famous cases is that of the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teenager who was walking down a residential street in Florida when he was shot by George Zimmerman, who called 911 to report a “suspicious person,” and then got out of his car to confront Martin himself. Zimmerman claimed that the teenager attacked him and that he shot Martin in self-defense, and was acquitted of any wrongdoing by a jury. Another case reported by Lee is that of 29-year-old Daniel Adkins, a mentally challenged man who walked in front of Cordell Jude’s car as he pulled into the drive through at a Taco Bell in Arizona and waved a dog leash, which Jude mistook for a metal pipe, in the air. Jude shot and killed Adkins, but was not charged with a crime under Arizona’s “stand your ground” laws. According to one Florida attorney interviewed by the Tampa Bay Times, the “stand your ground” defense has also been claimed by a gang members who partook in a public shootout with a rival gang; because he could prove that he was in danger, he faced no charges for his role in the shootout (Montgomery and Jenkins). In response to these and many similar cases, 11 states have since revised their own “stand your ground” laws to address concerns about increased shootings under the law (“Shoot First - ‘Stand Your Ground Laws”
Facts: On October 3, 1974, Memphis Police Officers Hymon and Wright were dispatched to answer a “prowler inside call.” When the police arrived at the scene, a neighbor gestured to the house where she had heard glass breaking and that someone was breaking into the house. While one of the officer radioed that they were on the scene, the other officer went to the rear of the house hearing a door slam and saw someone run across the backyard. The suspect, Edward Garner stopped at a 6-feet-high fence at the edge of the yard and proceeded to climb the fence as the police officer called out “police, halt.” The police officer figured that if Garner made it over the fence he would get away and also “figured” that Garner was unarmed. Officer Hymon then shot him, hitting him in the back of the head. In using deadly force to prevent the escape of Garner, Hymon used the argument that actions were made under the authority of the Tennessee statute and pursuant to Police Department policy. Although the department’s policy was slightly more restrictive than the statute it still allowed the use of deadly force in cases of burglary. Garner’s fathers’ argument was made that his son was shot unconstitutionally because he was captured and shot possessing ten dollars that he had stolen and being unarmed showing no threat of danger to the officer. The incident was then reviewed by the Memphis Police Firearm’s Revie...
On the night of February 26, 2012 “George Zimmerman who was the coordinator for his Sanford neighborhood watch association is charged with second-degree murder in the death of a young boy. Trayvon Martin, an unarmed high school student from Miami, Florida. (Alvarez) The case began in a small city of Sanford as a routine homicide but soon evolved into a civil rights case, examining racial profiling. On the night of the attack Zimmerman was told not to get out of his car when he was following Trayvon. He described Trayvon as a “guy who looks up to no good, or he’s on drugs or something” Trayvon had his back to Zimmerman the whole time he was on the phone with the Dispatcher, from what the conversation was saying. When the dispatcher asked Zimmerman “is the guy white, black, or Hispanic? “Zimmerman says that he “looks” black, Zimmerman still has yet to see if Trayvon was black, white, or even Hispanic because Trayvon was walking the other direction. Later on in the conversation is when Zimmerman said “now he’s just staring at me”. That would have been the right time to mention the race of Trayvon. As the dispatcher was asking mo...
The case involved a neighborhood watchman, who happened to be on duty when he saw a young black man wearing a sweater jacket called a “hoodie”, walking through the neighborhood. George Zimmerman, the watchman, who was twenty-eight years old at the time, called authorities about a suspicious character walking around in his neighborhood. The authorities told him not to do anything; just continue with his rounds and not worry. Zimmerman, however, decided he would take matters into his own hands. He confronted the young man; they got into a brawl and Zimmerman pulled out a gun and shot and killed Martin. That premise will play a role in this paper as an argument as to why George Zimmerman should have been convicted of committing a crime. Even if the jury could not have reasons to convict him of the second degree murder of Trayvon Martin; they had other choices.
Thousands of black teenage males die in gun crimes every year. Many of the teenagers that are killed aren’t even 18 years old. The children and teen killed in 2008 and 2009 could fill more than 229 classrooms. Gun homicide is the number one cause of death for African American male. Trayvon Martin is a perfect example of gun homicide killing our black males. Trayvon Martin was a 17 year old, who was walking home from the 711 on a rainy night. When he was walking, he saw George Zimmerman who was following him and asking him where he was going. When Trayvon began to run, Zimmerman chased him and shot Trayvon Martin because he assumed Trayvon was doing something he wasn’t supposed to be doing. “George Zimm...
"British Restraining Act for New England." Facts On File News Services, n.d. Web. 1 Dec.
Zimmerman was asked by a dispatcher to stop pursuing Treyvon Martin. The “Stand Your Ground”
The Castle Doctrine allows you to defend yourself or your family from criminals but, where does that stop and the line between killing someone and claiming self-defense begin. There is no boundary that is clearly defined by law, so those people that are taking advantage of the Castle Doctrine often get away with it. I think that people being able to protect themselves is a good idea because the cops don’t always make it on time or at all but I think that there should be much more limits on this law and that it should be federally mandated and the law should be the same nationwide. I think that the people who have claimed the Castle Doctrine should be investigated thoroughly and if it comes out that they were the aggressor then I don’t think they should be allowed to claim it. The Castle Doctrine really does need to be revised and made so that there are no loopholes and the fact that it is different from state to state just helps people get away with killing somebody else. I don’t think that any law that is made with the intention of letting people get off free with murdering somebody else should exist without the time and attention paid to it that taking somebody else’s life deserves.
...he fear of prosecution. The problem with “Stand Your Ground” is that it “provides a rock-solid defense to paranoid trigger happy bigot cowboys armed with deadly force.”
Under some difficult situations, police officers would have to make quick decisions based on the assumptions from their past experience and historical crime data. The conservative supporters believed that police officers were not engaging in racial profiling, but merely focusing on the race with high crime rates. For the case of George Zimmerman, supporters pointed out that “Trayvon was not killed because he was black. He was shot in self-defense because he repeatedly punched and smashed Mr. Zimmerman’s head on the pavement” (Kuhner). These cases regarding police brutality and racial profiling have made the front page of many news articles and news channels. However, the conflict between the left wing and right extended when the Ferguson case
In the event of an attack, would people rather have to fend for themselves without a weapon, or have a person with permit that would allow them to take down the attacker, and potentially save many people’s lives. It is very similar to the statement, “would you bring a knife to a gun fight?” In Atlanta, “an armed guard disarmed the shooter moments after the 1:50 p.m. shooting in a courtyard at the Price Middle School in southeast Atlanta” (Hawkins, 2013). When people like the guard are allowed to have weapons, they can save the lives of many
That evening, he walked out to the nearby 7-Eleven to get some Skittles and an Arizona Iced Tea. As he walked back home to his father’s house, he caught the attention of George Zimmerman, who was patrolling the neighborhood and called 911 to report "a real suspicious guy." This guy looks like he 's up to no good or he 's on drugs or something," Zimmerman said to the police dispatcher. After discussing his location with the dispatcher, Zimmerman exclaimed, yelled and there were following sounds suggesting he left his vehicle to run after Martin. "Are you following him?" the dispatcher asked and after Zimmerman answered “yep” the dispatcher told him not to follow Trayvon. Minutes later there were calls about the two fighting and sounds of tussling, then Trayvon lay dead in the grass.
Stand-your-ground Law - "Stand-your-ground Law." Wikipedia. The World of the. Wikimedia Foundation, 28 Mar.
“Their best defense against injury is to put no defense and give them what they want” (Kates). Critics may argue that concealed handguns are not an effective form of self defense. To the contrary, robbery and assault victims who used a gun were less likely to be attacked or suffer injury, “Neither a martial art skills nor chemical sprays provide a real option for victims faced by attackers who are stronger or armed” (Kates). People feel safer when they carry a concealed weapon because they feel that criminals will avoid attacking them. Citizens want to conceal carry a handgun because every day there are dangerous individuals who prey on the weak. In addition to that, concealed handguns are an effective non-lethal form of self defense a majority of the time. Gary Kleck from the Federal Bureau of Investigation “estimated that, 2 million to 2.5 million victims annually use handguns to repel criminal attackers” (Kates). The surprise of being armed is the advantage for the victim, which the victim has the disadvantage of knowing the time and place of being attacked. Concealed carry actually provides protection to citizens that do not carry because the criminals are not sure who is able to defend themsel...
Police officers primary responsibility is to protect and serve citizens and communities, not to abuse the laws by hurting innocent people. In most states Stand-Your-Ground laws allows innocent citizens the right to use deadly force to defend and protect themselves. But what if they were protecting themselves from police brutality. Police brutality has been going on for many years; they can cause riots, injuries, and even mistrust for the police.
United Kingdom is a country with a distinctive set of legal system. It is fairly different from other countries having civil law based legal systems. The legal system in the United Kingdom consists of various sources of law, where other civil law based countries rely only on a written set of law. European influences on the English Legal System came much later in near decades. This essay will aim to examine the development of the English Legal System by reviewing applications of various sources of law in the English Legal System furthermore to discuss the recent European influences on the law of England.