Using Force in Self Protection
Civilized nations across the world have the provision for using force in self defense. There are plenty of legal measures that can be employed by households to keep safe from possible intruders. Even though most states have devised laws that allow citizens to own arms for self protection; these laws obviously have some restrictions over the use of weapons.
The most common concern that triggers into the mind of many is liability of the person if he hurts an attacker. Basically liability can be broadly classified into two classes, namely, civil and criminal liability.
Avoiding Criminal Liability During Self Defense
An individual can use force against an intruder if he believes that the use of such force is promptly needed for protection against the illicit force by the attacker. Such reasonable use of force is popularly referred to as “self protection”.
Self-defense is essentially the right of an individual to safeguard against any sort of unlawful force. It is also the right of an individual to protect against some reasonably anticipated or highly imminent unlawful use of force. When there are risks of bodily harm, the individual has all the rights to use even the deadly force to safeguard against it. However, any such force used by a person mustn’t be substantially greater than and should be proportionate to the illegitimate force used by the intruder.
Henceforth, if the force used in self defense wasn’t promptly essential, or if it was disproportionate in intensity, then claims of using such force for self-defense could turn out to be void.
Use Of Deadly Force And Criminal Liability
An individual can use deadly force for self protection only if the use of such force seems to be utmost necessary to avoid any risk or serious bodily harm. By serious body harm, it implies that the injuries that could lead to death or could result in permanent disfigurement or impairment of a body organ. The defender has to present reasonable claims to court to back the use of deadly force in case of self defense.
A person simply can’t respond to threat or even a minor attack by using deadly force against it. For instance, an individual can’t respond with deadly force to a slap or any other such minor attack.
Safeguarding Real Property And Criminal Liability
Along with the bodily harm, law further allows the use of force to defend against any unlawful force that is being used to claim the rights over property of the defender. In this situation, the defender must request the individual who has interference over the defender’s property. However, in case of property too, the defender has to face a number of restrictions over the use of deadly force.
Protection Against Civil Liability
Generally, in case a person gets injured due to intentional or unintentional acts of others, he can pull through the monetary damages by asking for reimbursements of medical bills and other expenses. However, it’s simply not applicable when the individual gets injured while attacking others.