Duty-To-Retreat Law Research Paper

Getting Away With Murder
Stand-your-ground laws have been enacted in 33 states (Li), replacing the duty-to-retreat laws. These laws deal with incidences involving self-defense. Under the laws of duty-to-retreat a person who feels threatened by the possibility of being a victim of bodily harm or a fatal attack must safely attempt to flee/escape before physically retaliating (Self Defense), unless inside his or her own home. When inside a person’s own home, they are protected by the Castle Doctrine, which allows the use of physical or deadly force without first having to try to safely retreat (Mirshak).
The idea behind the stand-your-ground laws is to expand the Castle Doctrine to wherever a person who feels in need of self-defense is legally

allowed to be (Light). Simply put, this gives a person the right “to shoot first and ask questions later” (Stand Your Ground Laws) if they feel as though they may be physically harmed or killed. However, there are many flaws with this concept, making the abolishment of these stand-your-ground laws necessary.
Since these laws have come into play, states enacting stand-your-ground laws have seen an eight percent rise in crime rates according to the “2012 Texas A&M study by Mark Hoesktra and Cheng Cheng” which equals about 600 more homicides a year in those states (Scott). The purposes of stand-your-ground laws were to save innocent lives but instead innocent people are dying at the hands of this law. In fact, in most stand-your-ground cases the people found dead were unarmed. With the only person left standing being the person who used deadly force it is difficult to know if they really acted in self-defense.
Consequently, the defendants involved in a stand-your-ground case many times have a criminal background. About 40% of these defendants in Florida have been arrested three or more times and 30% of them had previously been involved in violent crimes (Stanley). These statistics show criminals have taken a liking to the new laws. One criminal in particular was a known drug dealer who invoked this law twice in less than 3 years and won both times his name is Tavarious China Smith (Stanley). Smith’s case is not uncommon; unfortunately, it is actually happening excessively often. As a result of stand-your-ground defenses, more lives are being taken and more criminals are getting away with murder.
Nevertheless, despite these statistics stand-your-ground laws still have many supporters. These supporters claim people can protect themselves from criminal without worrying about first trying to flee from a perpetrator (Stand Your Ground Laws). Although this idea sounds good it only promotes more violence.