Duty to retreat

Depending on the state the criminal defendants have to prove a minimal time period of safe retreat.

Most U.S. jurisdictions have a stand-your-ground law[2] or apply what is known as the castle doctrine, whereby a threatened person need not retreat within his or her own dwelling or place of work.

[4] In Erwin v. State (1876), the Supreme Court of Ohio wrote that a "true man", one without fault, would not retreat.

[7] Similarly, in Taylor v Mucklow a building owner was held to be using an unreasonable degree of force in carrying a loaded airgun against a builder who was demolishing a new extension because his bills were unpaid.

[8] More dramatically, in AG's Reference (No 2 of 1983) Lord Lane held that a defendant who manufactured ten petrol bombs to defend his shop during the Toxteth riots could set up the defense of showing that he possessed an explosive substance "for a lawful purpose" if he could establish that he was acting in self-defense to protect himself or his family or property against an imminent and apprehended attack by means which he believed to be no more than reasonably necessary to meet the attack.