Mediaboss Marketing

In one key respect, Ralph Yarl was fortunate. The wounds the 16-year-old suffered after being shot twice on April 13, 2023, by the owner of the house whose doorbell he rang, thinking it was where he was due to pick up his two younger brothers, did not prove fatal.

Others who have made similar mistakes have died. Take Renisha McBride, who sought help after wrecking her car in a Detroit suburb in 2013, or Carson Senfield, who entered the wrong car in Tampa thinking it was his Uber on his 19th birthday. And then there is the case of 20-year-old Kaylin Gillis, a passenger in a car that turned around in a driveway in upstate New York on April 15, 2023. What these young people have in common is that they were killed in accidental encounters with armed property owners.

As a scholar who has studied Americas love affair with guns and lethal self-defense, I have explored the history of laws that selectively shield citizens from criminal responsibility when they use force and claim self-defense. Since 2005, these stand your ground laws have spread to around 30 states, transforming the United States legal landscape.

While preexisting laws regarding justifiable use of force allowed the use of lethal force for self-defense in some circumstances, they required that people first try to retreat from a perceived threat if it was safe to do so or to seek a nonlethal solution to a hostile encounter. Stand your ground laws, meanwhile, authorize defensive violence without a duty to retreat, wherever a person may legally be. Some also expand the circumstances in which someone could use lethal force to defend property.

Although the laws appear to apply to all law-abiding citizens, research shows that they are not equitably enforced, and that they may be emboldening property owners to shoot first and question their actions later, even when there is no real threat of harm.

Certainly that seems to be the case with the shooting of Yarl. The wounding of the Black teen, who was simply trying to pick up his siblings, generated widespread outrage, especially when Kansas City Police Chief Stacey Graves suggested that investigators would consider whether the shooter an 84-year-old white man might have recourse to the states stand your ground law as a defense against prosecution.

Given that the encounter took place on the shooters property, there is a possibility the shooter could find legal protection in the castle doctrine, which allows someone to use reasonable force without first trying to retreat in self-defense in their home. But he would still have to show reasonable cause for firing two shots at the unarmed teen standing at his front door.

It seems that in the case of Yarl, state prosecutors believe that the bar of reasonable cause was not met. Andrew D. Lester, the homeowner, has since been charged with two counts: assault in the first degree and armed criminal action.

This does not preclude the defense from invoking Lesters right to stand his ground and use force in self-defense, if his lawyers can show Lester truly believed Yarl posed a real threat.

Missouris stand your ground law, in place since 2016, removes the duty to retreat anywhere a person may legally be, even beyond ones castle. But you still need to prove that force is used reasonably, that it was not carried out in aggression or anger, and that there was a genuine fear for your life.

Indeed, the resolution of cases like the Yarl shooting turn on a highly subjective reckoning of what counts as reasonable force, and on which side prosecution or defense bears the burden of proof.

Traditional laws on the use of force place that burden on the alleged self-defender, who must prove that their actions were reasonable. But some other states with stand your ground laws, like Florida, remove the burden of proof from the defense, placing it on the prosecution.

This means that the prosecution must prove that the alleged self-defender was truly fearful when using force. In some instances, as in the shooting of Senfield after he tried to enter a car he misidentified as his Uber, the stand your ground law becomes a shield against prosecution. No charges have been filed in that case, in large part because there were no other witnesses to contradict the shooters claim that he was in fear for his life when Senfield tried to enter his car.

Contrary to the claims of the framers and promoters of stand your ground laws, there is scant empirical evidence that the laws prevent crime. In fact, multiple studies show just the opposite.

Research on public health and crime reveals a pernicious effect of stand your ground laws on public safety, showing a correlation with increased rates of gun homicide. One study, which includes an assessment of Missouris law, found that the passage of stand your ground laws correlates with an 8% to 11% increase in firearm homicide rates.

An analysis of stand your ground cases in Florida, carried out by gun violence prevention group Everytown for Gun Safety, addressed the way removal of the duty to retreat encourages violent escalation; researchers suggested that over half the cases could have been resolved without loss of life.

Further, recent scholarship shows how stand your ground laws intensify existing racial injustices in the U.S. criminal legal system. A study by the think tank Urban Institute found significant discrepancies in the rate at which homicides in stand your ground cases were deemed justified, depending on the race of the shooter and the race of the deceased. White shooters were significantly more likely to to be exonerated when their victim was Black, suggesting that particularly in states with stand your ground laws white people may feel more legally empowered to use lethal force and avoid prosecution, as long as their victims are Black.

In the Yarl case, the possible presence of racial bias has not escaped the attention of Kansas City prosecutors. Lesters grandson has described his grandfather as a QAnon devotee with racist tendencies and beliefs that likely prompted his violent reaction to Yarls presence on his doorstep.

Against the backdrop of historical legacies of racial bias in the U.S., stand your ground laws intensify the risks of shooting deaths in an increasingly gun-saturated public. With laws that encourage armed citizens to use force against any perceived threat real or imagined even the most innocent mistakes and chance encounters can turn deadly.

If so, youll be interested in our free daily newsletter. Its filled with the insights of academic experts, written so that everyone can understand whats going on in the world. With the latest scientific discoveries, thoughtful analysis on political issues and research-based life tips, each email is filled with articles that will inform you and often intrigue you.

Get our newsletters

Editor and General Manager

Find peace of mind, and the facts, with experts. Add evidence-based articles to your news digest. No uninformed commentariat. Just experts. 90,000 of them have written for us. They trust us. Give it a go.

Get our newsletter

If you found the article you just read to be insightful, youll be interested in our free daily newsletter. Its filled with the insights of academic experts, written so that everyone can understand whats going on in the world. Each newsletter has articles that will inform and intrigue you.

Subscribe now

CEO | Editor-in-Chief

It helps you go deeper into key political issues and also introduces you to the diversity of research coming out of the continent. It's not about breaking news. It's not about unfounded opinions. The Europe newsletter is evidence-based expertise from European scholars, presented by myself in France, and two of my colleagues in Spain and the UK.

Get our newsletter

Head of English section, France edition

Read the original here:
'Stand your ground' laws empower armed citizens to defend property with violence a simple mistake can get you shot, or killed - The Conversation

The shooting of a teenager in Kansas City, Mo., and the killing of a woman in upstate New York in recent days have brought renewed attention to the legal protections offered to people who say they acted in self-defense or out of fear for their safety.

In Kansas City, a Black teenager was shot last Thursday when he mistakenly went to the wrong house to pick up his younger brothers. The 84-year-old white man who shot the teenager through his front door has been charged with first-degree assault; he told investigators that he thought someone was breaking into his house.

In New York, a 20-year-old woman looking for a friends house was fatally shot on Monday after the car in which she was riding went to the wrong address. The homeowner there fired shots and killed her, the authorities say; he has been charged with second-degree murder.

Missouri is one of about 30 states with a stand your ground law. New York is not, but defendants there and elsewhere can argue that their actions are protected by what is known as the castle doctrine.

Here is a guide to understanding those laws and legal principles.

In the United States, there has been a tendency over the years for legislatures and the courts to expand the right to claim self-defense to justify use of force, rather than to protect those who may be harmed by misjudgments and mistakes.

The common-law castle doctrine, established through centuries of precedent, is rooted in the idea that a persons home is their castle, and that they have a right to protect themselves while they are in it.

Castle doctrine laws sometimes known as make my day laws give people in their own homes the legal presumption of self-defense if they harm an intruder.

Stand your ground laws go further. They apply anyplace where a person has a legal right to be, not just at home, and they erode the longstanding duty to retreat, a mainstay of classic self-defense legal theory that says deadly force is justified only as a last resort, when retreat is impossible.

For example, Floridas law states that a person who is not engaged in an unlawful activity and who is attacked in any other place where he or she has a right to be has no duty to retreat and has the right to stand his or her ground and meet force with force, including deadly force, if he or she reasonably believes it is necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another or to prevent the commission of a forcible felony.

That law gained wider attention in 2012, when the police in Sanford, Fla., cited it as the reason they declined to arrest George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer who killed an unarmed Black teenager, Trayvon Martin. Mr. Zimmerman was later charged and acquitted.

Missouri, Florida, Texas, Georgia, Michigan and Pennsylvania are among the states with stand your ground laws, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Most such laws have been enacted in the last 25 years.

The prosecutor in Kansas City has said that he believes the shooting of the teenager, Ralph Yarl, 16, was not in self-defense.

S. David Mitchell, a law professor at the University of Missouri, said that a defense lawyer could try to invoke the castle doctrine, though it usually applies only when an intruder has entered the home. The front porch, Mr. Mitchell said, becomes the gray area of what constitutes ones castle, a question that a jury could consider.

Though stand your ground laws do not require a person to retreat, they do not provide a blanket defense for shooting at anyone who approaches you. Mr. Mitchell said there would also have to be an assessment of whether the shooter had a reasonable fear of being harmed.

Theres one key thing that is missing here, he said, referring to the shooting in Kansas City. There is no indication of reasonable fear that Ive seen from any of the reports.

Under New Yorks castle doctrine, people have a right to protect their homes with deadly force if they reasonably believe that someone is entering without permission and is seeking to commit a crime.

But the sheriff in Washington County, where the wrong-address shooting took place on Monday, said he believed there was no reason for the suspect, Kevin Monahan, 65, to have felt threatened when he stepped out of his house and killed Kaylin Gillis, 20.

Proponents argue that the laws allow citizens to keep themselves safe, and even that the laws deter crime, though there is no evidence of that.

Missouri was the first state to pass a stand your ground law after the killing of Trayvon Martin in Florida.

The Republican-controlled Missouri General Assembly overrode the veto of Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democrat, in 2016 to approve the legislation, which allows individuals to use force in self-defense without retreating in any location where they have the right to be. Instead of providing the right only in the home, the law created a sort of mobile self-protective bubble, said Mr. Mitchell, the law professor.

The bill was sponsored by Sen. Kurt Schaefer, a Republican from Columbia, Mo. Youre going to do whatever you need to do if your safety is in jeopardy, Mr. Schaefer said in 2016. The question is, what happens in the lawsuit after that? Are you going to be faced with liability after that?

Critics say the laws make it too easy to claim self-defense when violence could have been avoided. For criminal trials in which a defendant claims self-defense, the law puts the burden on prosecutors to try to discredit those claims.

According to some analyses, there are substantial racial disparities in rulings of justifiable homicide under the laws.

Opponents also say the laws promote violence and weaken police powers. There is moderate evidence that the laws may increase total homicide rates, according to a review of data by the RAND Corporation.

The 2013 trial and acquittal of George Zimmerman put stand your ground laws in the national spotlight. In finding him not guilty of murder or manslaughter, the trial jury agreed that Mr. Zimmerman could have been justified in shooting Mr. Martin because he feared great bodily harm or death.

In 2021, Kyle Rittenhouse claimed that he had acted in self-defense when he shot three men, killing two, during unrest following the police shooting of a Black man in Kenosha, Wis., in August 2020. The onus was on the prosecution to prove otherwise, and he was found not guilty. That case highlighted for many Americans the wide berth given to defendants who say they have acted out of fear.

This month in Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott said that he would grant a pardon to an Army sergeant who was convicted of fatally shooting a protester during a Black Lives Matter demonstration in 2020. Mr. Abbott, a Republican, cited the states strong stand your ground law as the basis for his decision.

Read more here:
What Are 'Stand Your Ground' Laws, and When Do They Apply? - The New York Times

Updated 20 April 2023

Ralph Yarl survived being shot after approaching the wrong house in Missouri

Two recent cases of unarmed people being shot and killed in the US have renewed discussion of so-called "stand your ground" laws.

The shootings have prompted questions about a person's rights to protect themselves and their property in the US - and when a person can use deadly force in self defence.

The answer depends on where you live.

What is a stand your ground law?

A stand your ground law is enacted at state level and most of these permit an individual to protect themselves with the use of reasonable force, including deadly force, to prevent death or great bodily harm.

Stand your ground laws echo the common law "castle doctrine" principle, which does not carry a "duty to retreat" when a person feels they must defend their home.

The duty to retreat, or an obligation to step back and avoid confrontation where possible, is removed under most stand your ground laws, dubbed "shoot first" laws by critics.

The laws began to appear in states after a bill featuring the language "has the right to stand his or her ground" was introduced in Florida in 2005.

When defendants use a stand your ground law to defend their actions, often the case centres on whether or not their use of force meets the standard for "reasonable", given the perceived threat.

Some laws refer to "deadly force", defined as the amount of force which a reasonable person would deem likely to cause death, or serious bodily harm, to another person, according to Cornell University.

How many states have stand your ground laws?

The states include: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and West Virginia Wyoming.

In these states, there is no duty to retreat from an attacker.

In Missouri, a person does not have a duty to retreat from their private property. An 84-year-old man has been charged first-degree assault and armed criminal action over Ralph Yarl's shooting.

Eight other states - California, Colorado, Illinois, New Mexico, Oregon, Virginia, Vermont and Washington - permit the use of deadly force in self defence.

New York state, where Ms Gillis was shot as the car she was in pulled into the wrong driveway, does not have a stand your ground law, and imposes a broad duty to retreat.

But its state law also introduces the castle doctrine in certain circumstances. A man has been charged with second-degree murder over the Ms Gillis' death.

The impact of stand your ground laws

John Roman, director of the Center on Public Safety and Justice at NORC at the University of Chicago, authored a study examining 53,019 cases involving stand your ground laws.

He told the BBC that they "promote violence".

"People feel like they have an added protection that makes them more likely to shoot where they wouldn't have shot without that perceived protection," he said.

It also "tragically" increases racial disparities in the US criminal justice system, he said.

Data from the report showed that, when the shooter is white and the victim is black, the white shooter is 10 times more likely to have their actions deemed justified than when the shooter is black and the victim is white.

The study found that, in cases where stand your ground laws featured, 11.4% of white-on-black homicides were ruled as justified, compared to just 1.2% of black-on-white homicides.

The death of unarmed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Florida in 2012 thrust conversations around the principle behind stand your ground into the national spotlight.

Lawyers for neighbourhood watchman George Zimmerman, 29, said he acted in self-defence with justifiable use of deadly force. He was acquitted of all charges.

The case sparked a fierce debate about racial profiling in the US and spontaneous protest marches were staged overnight in cities such as San Francisco, Philadelphia, Chicago, Washington DC and Atlanta.

In another prominent case, Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old black male, was fatally gunned down by three white men while jogging through a Georgia neighbourhood, unarmed. The men tried to justify their actions by citing stand your ground laws.

Go here to see the original:
What is a stand your ground law and which states have one? - BBC

(KMAland) -- Missouri's Stand Your Ground law has been cited a number of times since the recent shooting of a Missouri teen by a homeowner whose house he went to by mistake.

But one expert said the statute is not what authorizes a person to use lethal force when a "legitimate" threat occurs at their home or property.

Ari Freilich, state policy director for theGiffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, pointed out Stand Your Ground laws apply in public spaces, and the Castle Doctrine covers private property.

He said what the two have in common is lowering the legal requirement to avoid using lethal force when possible, by stepping away, or otherwise de-escalating the situation.

"Generally speaking, you cannot use lethal force unless it was objectively reasonable for you to believe that it was necessary to use that amount of force to prevent death or serious bodily harm, or really serious crimes from occurring," Freilich explained.

Freilich noted both the Castle Doctrine and Stand Your Ground laws fall under the umbrella of homicide laws. He added although every state has variations, the legal system has important protections, independent of the two, in the form of self-defense and justifiable homicide laws.

Freilich stressed although the Castle Doctrine does not require someone to step away or attempt to de-escalate a threat when at home, it has major restrictions.

"That does not authorize someone to use lethal force when there is no reason to believe that someone is unlawfully entering the home," Freilich emphasized. "And also, when there is really no objectively reasonable indicator that the person was a threat to life or safety."

And although de-escalating has historically been the expectation in public spaces, Freilich acknowledged people's understanding of this seems to be changing.

"Stand your ground laws have altered and distorted that and told people they have some vague affirmative right in public spaces -- wherever they might lawfully be present -- to stand their ground and not withdraw, not de-escalate in that way," Freilich said.

Freilich co-authored a study with the Southern Poverty Law Center which concluded Stand Your Ground lawsshould be repealed, stating, "They encourage a trigger-happy culture of anxious vigilantism that cheapens the value of human life. And they deepen vast and harmful disparities in our legal system."

At KMA, we attempt to be accurate in our reporting. If you see a typo or mistake in a story, please contact us by emailing kmaradio@kmaland.com.

Go here to see the original:
Legal Expert On Castle Doctrine, 'Stand Your Ground' Laws - KMAland

MACON, Ga. 38 states have some variation of a 'Stand Your Ground law,' but Georgias law could go through some changes.

Newly-introduced legislation in Georgias General Assembly could roll back the law here.

It would allow someone to decide whether they can first remove themselves from a situation without using deadly force before they shoot.

"It just changes the grounds pretty significantly if this becomes law," Attorney Frank Hogue said.

The latest legal hot point -- House Bill 842, also known as the "Georgia Shoot First Act."

"Essentially, it's trying to amend our law to say, instead of no duty to retreat, you better look for a reasonable escape from the perceived threat, because if you don't and you then kill or seriously injure somebody and then claim, 'They were threatening me,' I suppose under this bill, if it passes, a prosecution could look at it and ask, 'Could you have escaped?'" Hogue said.

Under current 'Stand Your Ground' law, gun owners can protect themselves or their properties with deadly force if they feel threatened by an aggressor. Our Atlanta station 11Alive spoke to state representative Marvin Lim, who introduced the bill.

"People are still allowed to defend themselves but are also required -- as everyone still is, whatever the stand your ground regime is or not to decide whether or not this is force that is necessary," Lim said.

Attorney Frank Hogue says defense lawyer organizations will likely oppose the bill because it would restrict the rights of potential defendants. He also believes it could cause complications in the courtrooms.

"We like to see nobody being out in this position in the first place. The question is if you are, should you now have the burden placed on you as a citizen to stop and wonder, 'Do I have a way out of this?' Hogue asked.

Lim also told 11Alive that many people have been killed by property owners who mistakenly thought they were being threatened.

Democrats introduced the bill in the final days of this years legislative session in March. We reached out to both Houston and Bibb County's district attorneys, but neither were available to speak on the issue.

See the rest here:
'Changes the grounds pretty significantly': What 'Stand Your Ground' law rollback means for Georgia - 13WMAZ.com