Self-Defense
This defense allows a person to use force to protect themselves from an unlawful attack
What is self-defense?
This justification allows someone to use force to protect another person from harm.
What is defense of others?
This defense allows a person to protect their home from an unlawful intruder
What is defense of home?
This defense may apply when a person breaks the law to prevent a greater harm
What is the necessity defense?
A defense in which a defendant admits to committing the act but argues that the act was right under the circumstances
What is justification defense?
A person claiming self-defense must have this type of belief that they are in danger
What is reasonable belief?
When defending another person, the defender generally must believe the other person is facing this.
What is an unlawful and immediate threat?
A person may generally use reasonable force to protect this from unlawful interference
What is their property?
Another name for the necessity defense used in Chapter 5 is this
What is the choice of evils defense?
Defenses such as self-defense and necessity fall under this general type of criminal defense
What are justification defenses?
The amount of force used in self-defense should match this
What is the level of threat or danger faced?
The force used to defend another person should generally be this compared to the threat
What is reasonable and proportional?
This legal doctrine gives special protection to people defending themselves inside their homes
What is the castle doctrine?
Under this defense, the harm avoided must generally be greater than the harm caused by breaking the law
What is the choice of the lesser evil?
This defense may apply when a person voluntarily agrees to conduct that would otherwise be considered harmful or criminal
What is consent?
To use deadly force in self-defense, a person generally must honestly and reasonably believe they face immediate death or serious bodily harm.
What is an imminent threat of death or serious bodily harm?
If someone sees another person being attacked and reasonably believes they are in danger, they may use this type of defense
What is defense of others?
Generally, deadly force cannot be used simply to protect this type of possession
What is property?
One important requirement of necessity is that there was no reasonable legal way to avoid the danger
What is no reasonable legal alternative?
Justification defenses are often called this because the defendant must present some evidence supporting the defense
What are affirmative defenses?
A person who starts a fight may lose the right to claim self-defense unless certain circumstances allow them to regain that right.
What is the nonaggressor requirement?
This principle focuses on whether the person defending another had a reasonable belief that intervention was necessary
What is the reasonable belief requirement?
This rule recognizes that a person's home has traditionally been considered a place where they may have special rights to defend themselves
What is the castle doctrine?
A person breaks into an empty cabin during a dangerous blizzard to avoid freezing to death. This situation could support this justification
What is the necessity or choice of evils defense?
Unlike an excuse, this type of defense argues that the defendant's actions were legally right under the circumstances
What is justification?