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Laws are primarily made to protect the rights and freedom of the people. However, on many occasions, specific rules might lead to a surge in victimization and crime rates when used carelessly. Stand-your-ground laws allow individuals to apply lethal force for self-defense when confronted and find their lives in danger. The stand-your-ground constitution has been adopted and used differently in many parts of the United States. For instance, in Florida, the adoption of stand-your-ground laws has affected the number of justifiable homicides negatively by increasing crime rates. Whites can successfully apply stand-your-ground law on black attackers without being convicted, unlike when blacks use the law on white attackers. White-on-white homicides are also most likely justifiable than white-on-black murders, which are most likely legitimate. Cases of fatalities and hospitalization due to gunshot injuries increase in Florida every day. The adoption of the Comprehensive Homicide Initiative helps reduce the incidents of homicides. Comprehensive Homicide Initiative provides the protection, intervention, persecution, and enforcement programs that reduce cases of murder in the United States.
Stand-your-ground laws imply that a person has the legal right to defend themselves against perceived threats even to the extent of applying physical force irrespective of whether the person could manage to withdraw from the situation (Hough, McCorkle, & Harper, 2019). In other words, stand-your-ground law protects the rights of a person to stay in places where they have legal rights to be without retreating even when threatened to do so. The person may use lethal force that can cause bodily harm or death for self-defense if a threat arises and realizes that his life is in danger. A reasonable force is applied while defending property or another person (Mack, & Roberts-Lewis, 2016). The law also protects people from retreating into their homes.
However, stand-your-ground law is used differently in different states. However, in most jurisdictions, the acceptance must be under extreme conditions and decisions of last resort. States that have fully adopted and implemented stand-your-ground laws are Florida, Texas, California, and Washington. New York, Massachusetts, and Maryland states have limited the application of the law. According to these limitations, people have the duty not to retreat only in their homes and cars, but not in public places. The law only allows people to use deadly force while in their private residences and not in public places (McClellan & Tekin, 2012). The controversial argument on whether stand-your-ground law affects the paradigms and numbers of justifiable homicides only applies to the validity of the law in terms of its ability to exacerbate crime. However, this paper will specifically investigate evidence that proves that stand-your-ground law affects the number of justifiable homicides. Moreover, this research also reviews how the stand-your-ground code is used to highlight the cases of gender disparity and its effect on the number of justifiable homicides.
Many pieces of literature have been published on the contentious issues surrounding stand-your-ground law in the United States. The Florida State Defense Force claims that the state finds it challenging to persecute individuals who commit crimes and affirm the rights of self-defense. The department considers the law unnecessary and dangerous on two grounds: an individual may apply deadly force on children, or an individual may use deadly force on drunken people who mistakenly break into his home. In some instances, people have been shot while restrained and lacking no space to escape. Such cases can be avoided by allowing such individuals to withdraw to other places safely without using physical force that can cause death or bodily harm. Concerning this, a legislator from Florida proposed a bill that would allow people to give warnings by showing gunshots to the confronting individuals before aiming at them.
Racial disparity is also a clear indication that stand-your-ground law affects the paradigm and numbers of justifiable homicides. Spanbauer (2018) shows that whites are more successful while using stand-your-ground defense against black attackers than when blacks use stand-your-ground protection against white attackers. Reports further highlight that the use of stand-your-ground law in incidences involving the shooting of black attackers is 18% justifiable in most cases. In contrast, the use of stand-your-ground defense in shooting a white attacker is less than 1% justifiable on many occasions (Sommers & Marotta, 2015). Contrary to the case in non-stand-your-ground states, a white shooting a black attacker is approximately 10% justifiable while a black person shooting a white attacker is found about 2% legitimate. According to the Urban Institute, white-on-white homicides in stand-your-ground states are less than 50% more likely justifiable compared to white-on-black murder, which is more than 300% more likely justifiable. The variation here indicates that stand-your-ground law is two times more likely to subject white victims to conviction as opposed to black victims.
A report by McClellan & Tekin (2017) shows that cases of hospitalization resulting from gunshot-inflicted injuries and homicides gradually incline in the United States as a result of stand-your-ground laws. According to the study, nearly 30 people die every month as a result of the rules. The report further found that stand-your-ground laws ‘do not deter burglary, robbery, or aggravated assault. In contrast, they lead to a statistically significant 8 percent net increase in the number of reported murders and non-negligent manslaughters.’ In Florida, stand-your-ground laws have caused more than a 20% increase in both fire-arm-related deaths and homicides. Stand-your-ground laws have also inflicted fear amongst many people because many people carry guns, and they use them carelessly, knowing that they can use the code as a defense for their crimes.
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