Self-defense (United States)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Criminal defenses

Part of the common law series
Defenses to crime
Actual innocence
Excuse and exculpation
Defenses that deny the act:
Alibi · Mistaken identity
Frameup · Falsified evidence
False confession · Automatism
Defenses that negate intent:
Infancy · Entrapment
Insanity · Mental disorder
M'Naghten Rules
Diminished responsibility
Mistake of law · Mistake of fact
Intoxication
Defenses that justify the act:
Self defense · Consent
Duress · Necessity
Provocation
See also Criminal Law
Criminal Procedure
Other areas of the common law
Contract law · Tort law · Property law
Wills and trusts · Evidence
Portals: Law · Criminal justice

In the United States, the defense of self-defense allows a person attacked to use reasonable force in their own defense and the defense of others. For the theory explaining why this is allowed as an excuse or justification, see Self-defense

While the statutes defining the legitimate use of force in defense of a person vary from state to state, the general rule makes an important distinction between the use of physical force and deadly physical force. A person may use physical force to prevent imminent physical injury, however a person may not use deadly physical force unless that person is in reasonable fear of serious physical injury or death. Most statutes also include a duty to retreat (notable exceptions include Louisiana and Florida: see stand-your-ground law), wherein deadly physical force may only be used if the person acting in self defense is unable to safely retreat. A person is generally not obligated to retreat if in one's own home (for example, a person doesn't have to retreat from the living room to the kitchen, then to the bedroom, then to the bathroom) in what has come to be called the "castle exception" (derived from the expression "A man's home is his castle").