Exam 5: Defenses to Criminal Liability I: Justifications

​There is no duty to from your own home to avoid using deadly force.

​Since 2005,more than 40 states have passed or proposed new "Castle Doctrine" legislation intended to expand the right to use deadly force in self-defense.Some argue that these new laws are the expression of one's "right to defend" while others argue that they are a "license to kill." Explain each argument and make your own argument for one side or the other.

​The Model Penal Code "choice of evils" provision contains five elements.

Which of the following is the majority rule?

Regarding defense of home and property,most statutes do not include what area?

​The castle exception is an exception to what doctrine?

​The modern right to use force against those unlawfully entering the person's home generally

​Which of the following cases involves the "New York Subway Vigilante"?

Which doctrine holds that a person does not have to retreat if he or she didn't start the fight,even if it is safely possible?

Case 5.1 Li plays on a local soccer team. In a match against another team Li is hit by an opponent during normal play and his leg is broken. Li calls the police department from the hospital emergency room and requests that the player who hit him be charged with assault. -If charged with assault,what defense would the opponent most likely use at trial?

One element of self-defense requires that defenders can use deadly force only if the use of nondeadly force isn't enough to repel the attack.What element is this?

​Defenders can use deadly force only if they reasonably believe it's necessary to repel an deadly attack.

​Under English common law,who had the burden to prove they "retreated to the wall" before acting in self-defense?

The Florida castle law abolished

Case 5.3 Savannah and her girlfriend Vanessa have been drinking at her apartment most of the afternoon. They are arguing when Savannah goes into her bedroom and gets her gun. She shoots at Vanessa but misses. Vanessa leaves the apartment and gets a gun from her car. She returns to the apartment. Savannah yells stop and runs towards the bathroom. Vanessa shoots at her but also misses. Savannah turns and shoots Vanessa. -What kind of defense to criminal liability would Savannah most likely use?

A classic excuse defense is insanity.

Circumstances that convince fact finders that defendants don't deserve the maximum penalty for the crime they're convicted of are called

Retribution is the heart of the defense of self-defense.

An imperfect defense,such as imperfect self-defense,may,in some jurisdictions,reduce a murder to manslaughter.

​Which defense is based on the high valued placed on individual autonomy in a free society?