Essay On Stand Your Ground Law

Stand Your Ground Law

The Trayvon Martin case. This automatically should ring a bell in the mind of millions. This case sparked a deep debate about the systematic racism that is embedded within our government, and how legislation that are passed can continue to allow this to happen. Legislation such as the Stand Your Ground law, which is the defense that George Zimmerman used in his prosecution of the murder of young teen Trayvon Martin In the 2013 case of Florida v. Zimmerman ( Kessler) The Stand Your Ground Law is a highly controversial topic. The Stand Your Ground Law is a “self defense” law that allows someone to use specific or “deadly” force when they believe their life is in immediate danger. The law has been highly debated

(Tappan) In the Supreme Court's case of 1921 Brown v. United States, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote in the 7-2 majority opinion, "If a man reasonably believes that he is in imminent danger of death or grievous bodily injury from his assailant, he may stand his ground and that if he kills him he has not exceeded the bounds of lawful self-defense." With the high profile cases that this law has been associated with, typically being cases that have a high racial impact, the Stand Your Ground Law has been criticized as another law that allows for systematic racism to occur within the United states. “The American legal system's handling of violent self-defense has long favored white, property-owning men. Nonwhite, female,and poor or gender-nonconforming people have always been more likely to be punished for defending themselves and less likely to see the courts come to their aid when they are harmed”

The law is designed to protect innocent victims. “It does not have any provision to protect original aggressors.” (Contributor). The stand your ground law is extremely biased towards who has a better luck at getting away or being able to successfully use the stand your ground law as defense. For example, the way the government prosecuted the Black Panthers vs other legal gun owners. “The Panthers became experts on firearm laws and openly carried guns, in a sharp departure from mainstream civil rights technique. After California Assemblyman Don Mulford introduced a bill making it illegal to carry guns openly--a measure aimed directly at the Panthers--armed black men” (Tappan). The people using this law as their defensen are getting away with murder and aggravated assault so easily, due to the loose language used in the law itself. Now, police officers accused of using excessive force are trying to claim the law's protection (Robles). In response to the idea that crime has decreased since stand your ground law was put in place, is true, but in Florida, which passed the first Stand Your Ground law, has seen a 30 percent increase in homicides since then (Contributor) . That's not to say all homicides involve self-defense, but it does suggest a growing attitude of "shoot first and ask questions later”