Stand-your-ground law

These sections were updated in 2012 to clarify the code, and to help legal professionals apply the law in accordance with the values Canadians hold to be acceptable.

A great deal of case law has emerged from different provincial superior courts regarding the interpretation of the elements of self-defense per ss.

34-35 amendments, courts will permit juries to consider available lines of retreat in deciding whether an accused had no other option than to defend himself.

In 2019, the Alberta legislature passed the Trespass Statutes (Protecting Law-Abiding Property Owners) Amendment Act, 2019,[6] in response to rising rural crime, public concern with police inaction and several high-profile self-defense shootings the previous year.

[7][8] Especially influential was the case of Edouard Maurice, who wounded a trespasser and was served with a lawsuit after having criminal charges against him dropped.

Any individual who uses force against a trespasser is not guilty of an offense if he or she honestly believes they were there to commit a criminal act and a threat to life.

In 2019, the Italian senate passed a "legitimate defense" bill, protecting the right to self-defense for private citizens of Italy.

[19] Stand-your-ground law applies to any kind of threat by an attacker that endangers the victim's safety, health, or life.

If the self-defense was excessive, its perpetrator is not to be punished if he or she exceeded on account of fear or rage justified by the circumstances of the attack.

[41][42] Opponents argue that Florida's law makes it potentially more difficult to prosecute cases against individuals who commit a crime and claim self-defense.

Before passage of the law, Miami police chief John F. Timoney called the law unnecessary and dangerous in that "[w]hether it's trick-or-treaters or kids playing in the yard of someone who doesn't want them there or some drunk guy stumbling into the wrong house, you're encouraging people to possibly use deadly physical force where it shouldn't be used.

[45] In Florida, a task force created by former Democratic state Sen. Chris Smith of Fort Lauderdale found the law to be "confusing".

[46] Those discussing issues with the group included Buddy Jacobs, a lawyer representing the Florida Prosecuting Attorneys Association.

In a July 16, 2013 speech in the wake of the jury verdict acquitting George Zimmerman of charges stemming from the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, Attorney General Eric Holder criticized stand-your-ground laws as "senselessly expand[ing] the concept of self-defense and sow[ing] dangerous conflict in our neighborhoods.

"[47] In 2014, Florida's legislature considered a bill that would allow people to show a gun or fire a warning shot during a confrontation without drawing a lengthy prison sentence.

[48] In 2017, there was a bill proposed in Florida's state legislature that would require the prosecution to prove that a defendant's use of self-defense was not valid.

[49] In 2018, the shooting of Markeis McGlockton led some civil rights activists and politicians to call for abolition of the statute.

[54] Their report found no racial disparity in Florida cases in which defendants claiming self-defense under the law are prosecuted, with Caucasian subjects being charged and convicted at the same rate as African American subjects, and results of mixed-race cases were similar for both white victims of black attackers and black victims of white attackers.

[55] A paper from The Urban Institute which analysed FBI data found that in stand-your-ground states, the use of the defense by whites in the shooting of a black person is found to be justifiable 17 percent of the time, while the defense when used by blacks in the shooting of a white person is successful 1 percent of the time.

[61] A 2017 study in the Journal of Human Resources found that Stand Your Ground laws led to an increase in homicides and hospitalizations related to firearm-inflicted injuries.

[62] A 2013 study in the Journal of Human Resources found that Stand Your Ground laws in states across the U.S. "do not deter burglary, robbery, or aggravated assault.

"[63] A 2016 study in the Social Science Journal found that stand-your-ground laws were not associated with lower crime rates.

[69] In a 2007 National District Attorneys Association symposium, numerous concerns were voiced that the law could increase crime.