Stand Your Ground: Latoshan Lang I. Introduction When there is a perceived problem or opportunity, policies tend to be developed. Several states have a law call “Stand your ground law” that remove the duty for one to retreat before using force in self-defenses cases. In 2005, Florida passed the stand your ground law, which allows people to not retreat, if they think their life, is in danger, and they have the right to be where they are. Many others states also follow suit, allowing people to use deadly forces even outside their homes if it is necessary. Each state has a different variation of the self-defense law but in essence require the person to have the right to be there. State defense law are essentially characterized in three categories (Dahrendorf, 1981). · “Stand Your Ground”: if a person has the right to be at the place. They are allowed to use deadly force to defend themselves and are immune from prosecution · Castle Doctrine: real property such as your office, yard, home, or vehicles. You do not have to retreat. · Duty to Retreat: use of deadly force must be the last resort, if you are safe or can flee from the situation safe, use of deadly force would not prevent you from prosecution. (Kurtz, 2013). Stand your ground laws essentially replace the duty to retreat laws. State your ground came into existence to remove any confusion on when a person can use self-defense. It also eliminates prosecutions for people who legitimately used self-defense (McClellan, & Tekin, 2012). Stand your ground laws offers immunity in a claim of self-defense, an individual could claim self-defense under the states “stand your ground” law and escape trial altogether (Yu, 2014).The relevant section of the Florida statutes (FS 776.013(3) reads: “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 to prevent the commission of a forcible felony (Citation ) II. Problem identification and Agenda setting Stand your ground law stems from Castle Doctrine. The Castle Doctrine laws come from the English common law that states that if an intruder breaks into your home you are allowed to use force to defend yourself and your property without retreating. Lawmakers and gun-right activist saw a greater need to expand the castle doctrine law. Over the years, many states have expanded the castle doctrine law. The new laws extend beyond the home in places such as vehicle, vehicle or anywhere else a person have the right to be. Several factors contribute to the states expanding the castle doctrine. Several of those factors are: · A weakened sense of public safety after the terrorist attacks in 2001; · A lack of confidence in the criminal justice system’.

1. Stand Your Ground:
Latoshan Lang
I. Introduction
When there is a perceived problem or opportunity, policies tend
to be developed. Several states have a law call “Stand your
ground law” that remove the duty for one to retreat before using
force in self-defenses cases. In 2005, Florida passed the stand
your ground law, which allows people to not retreat, if they
think their life, is in danger, and they have the right to be where
they are. Many others states also follow suit, allowing people to
use deadly forces even outside their homes if it is necessary.
Each state has a different variation of the self-defense law but
in essence require the person to have the right to be there. State
defense law are essentially characterized in three categories
(Dahrendorf, 1981).
· “Stand Your Ground”: if a person has the right to be at the
place. They are allowed to use deadly force to defend
themselves and are immune from prosecution
· Castle Doctrine: real property such as your office, yard,
home, or vehicles. You do not have to retreat.
· Duty to Retreat: use of deadly force must be the last resort, if
you are safe or can flee from the situation safe, use of deadly
force would not prevent you from prosecution. (Kurtz, 2013).
Stand your ground laws essentially replace the duty to retreat
laws. State your ground came into existence to remove any
confusion on when a person can use self-defense. It also
eliminates prosecutions for people who legitimately used self-
defense (McClellan, & Tekin, 2012). Stand your ground laws
offers immunity in a claim of self-defense, an individual could

2. claim self-defense under the states “stand your ground” law and
escape trial altogether (Yu, 2014).The relevant section of the
Florida statutes (FS 776.013(3) reads: “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 to prevent the commission of a
forcible felony (Citation )
II. Problem identification and Agenda setting
Stand your ground law stems from Castle Doctrine. The Castle
Doctrine laws come from the English common law that states
that if an intruder breaks into your home you are allowed to use
force to defend yourself and your property without retreating.
Lawmakers and gun-right activist saw a greater need to expand
the castle doctrine law. Over the years, many states have
expanded the castle doctrine law. The new laws extend beyond
the home in places such as vehicle, vehicle or anywhere else a
person have the right to be.
Several factors contribute to the states expanding the castle
doctrine. Several of those factors are:
· A weakened sense of public safety after the terrorist attacks in
2001;
· A lack of confidence in the criminal justice system’s ability to
protect victims;
After the attack of Sept 2011, the perception of public safety
changed. The attack caused many citizens to doubt the
government ability to protect them from future terrorist attacks.
Many people felt they need to be proactive in their own defense.
Florida was one of the first legally to expand the castle Doctrine
on 1 October 2015. The National Riffle Association (NRA) was
very instrumental in getting the act passed. It used is political
donations, lobbying and outreach to make sure the bill passed.
More significantly, there were allegations that legislators who
might have otherwise opposed the law were afraid to vote

3. against it because of the NRA's power (Cheng & Hoekstra,
2013)
III. Formulation of Policy Proposal and Policy legitimation and
adoption
The legislation was adopted in October 1, 2005, to become
official state law. In the senate March 23, 2005, the total vote
was 39-0 while, in the house on April 5th, 2015, the bill passed
92-to 20. The law radically extended self-defense parameters in
Florida, giving citizens the right "force with force" in places
such as home, car, work or anywhere they are legally entitled to
be (CS/CS/SB 436, 2005). The NRA pushed hard for passage of
this particular law. According to Wayne LaPierre the group,
they will use the Victory in Florida to pursue similar measures
in other states. Representative Dennis K. Baxley of Ocala, who
sponsored the bills states this action, will reduce violent crime
while making citizens feel safer. Mr. Baxley states, "It's a clear
position that we will stand with victims of violent attacks when
the law is in their favor," (Cheng & Hoekstra, 2013)
The bill received favorable referral from Criminal Justice
committee as well as the Judiciary Committee in the Senate. On
the house side, the bills received favorable recommendation
from the Judiciary Committee and the Justice Council. The bill
will have no financial impact on Florida revenue. After several
drafts and revision bill was adopted into law. County or
municipal governments are not affected by this bill.
IV. Implementation
At least 22 other states have, and each state is responsible for
implementing their version of the law. Stand Your Ground laws
provide law enforcement with little to no guidance on how to
assess the legitimacy of a suspect’s self-defense claim. The
laws put officers in a place where the officers can possibly
arrest someone wrongfully that have claimed self-defense. The
“Stand your ground” statute has changed the way in which law
enforcement officers investigate self-defense cases.
Before the passage of “Stand your ground,” if someone used
deadly force outside their home, the burden of prof to show

4. that they used deadly force in self-defense was on them. Since
the passage of “Stand your ground” now the burden is placed
on law enforcement. Officers must now prove very early in their
investigation that the suspect acted unlawful before they can
detain or arrest the suspect as stated by Section 776.013(2),
Florida Statutes (citation )
Stand Your Ground laws in eight states protect a shooter
from criminal prosecution even after an arrest is made. State
courts have construed these criminal immunity provisions to
entitle a shooter to a pretrial “immunity hearing: a procedure
during which each party presents evidence to a judge who
determines if the shooter acted in self-defense” (McClellan &
Tekin, 2012).The case is dismissed if the judge find that the
defendant acted in self-defense and is free from prosecution. If
the judge found that the defendant did not act in self-defense,
the case goes to trial. The immunity hearings take place of the
traditional procedure that usually requires a jury. The judge
using factual information to make the decision.
V. Policy evaluation
The Florida "stand your ground" came under attack after the
acquittal of George Zimmerman int he case of Trayvon Martin
Death. According to a paper, by Cheng and Mark homicide
significantly increased by eight percent that is 600 homicides a
year in states that passed stand your ground law. The study also
found that these laws do not prevent robberies, burglaries or
aggravated assaults.
In the wake of such tragedies many states with “Stand Your
Ground” laws are now reviewing their laws. The rise of justified
homicides nationally since 2005, have also create a need for an
analysis of “Stand Your Ground” laws (Federal Bureau of
Investigation, 2010).
The total number number of justified homicides According to
data from the Uniform Crime increased from 196 in 2005 to 278
in 2010. In contrast the number of overall totall killings have
declined during the same period. It could also be that more
citizens are killing each other and using “stand your ground” to

5. claim self defense (Palazzolo and Barry, 2012). Nonetheless,
the coincidence between expansion of these law and justifiable
homicides sugest there might be a link between them too and
should be investigated.
The success of Stand your ground law is questionable at the
time. States that had passed "stand your ground" had seen a 53%
in justifiable homicide in comparison before they had the law
implemented. These laws have negatively affected especially
people of color. Researched showed that when white shooters
kill black victims at least 34% of the homicides is such case are
deemed justifiable while on the other hand only 3.3 % when the
shooter is black and the victim is white. States that enacted
“Stand your ground” law saw an increase in justifiable
homicides. Such increase shows that there is a direct association
between justifiable homicides and “Stand your ground” law
(Cheng & Hoekstra, 2013)
VI. Conclusion
The “stand your ground" law have created more of a state of
vigilante justice then helping law enforcement to decrease
crime. This law have increased racially motivated attacks under
the guise of self-defense. There is substantial evidence that
Stand Your Ground laws weaken public safety and increase
overall homicide rates. Due to the impact of public safety, many
states have considered some kind of reforms that would bring
back many of the traditional principles of self-defense back.
According to the “stand your ground” statue in Florida, a
shooter legally can shoot to defend themselves as long as they
have a right to be there in any places including public places
even if leaving the place could prevent harm from themselves or
others. Someone could claim self-defense in some situations
even if the shooter was the aggressor. Once a shooter claims
self-defense, they are immune from criminal prosecution and
therefore cannot be arrested or detained. Only way the person
can be detained is if police have probable cause jury.

7. References
Dahrendorf, R. (1981). Studying policy, planning policy,
making policy. Policy Studies, 2(2), 59-61.
Cheng Cheng & Mark Hoekstra, Does Strengthening Self-
Defense Law Deter Crime or Escalate
Violence? Evidence from Expansions to Castle Doctrine, 48 J.
Human Resources 821,
822 (June 2013), available at
http://econweb.tamu.edu/mhoekstra/castle_doctrine.pdf.
CS/CS/SB 436 - Protection of Persons/Use of Force. (2005,
April 26). Retrieved November 9, 2014, from
http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Bills/billsdetail.aspx?
BillId=15498
.Kurtz, H. E. (2013). Trayvon Martin and the Dystopian Turn in
US Self-defense Doctrine. Antipode, 45(2), 248-251.
McClellan, C. B., & Tekin, E. (2012). Stand your ground laws
and homicides. Cambridge, Mass.: National Bureau of
Economic Research.
Yu, Y. (2014). Deterrence Effect of Stand Your Ground Law on
Crime in Eastern US States. Atlantic Economic Journal, 42(1),
119-120.