Pros And Cons Of Stand Your Ground Law

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Six or Twelve A popular phrase is “carried by six or judged by twelve”. The number six refers to the number of casket bearers if you do not protect yourself. The twelve refers to the number of jurors at your trial if you do protect yourself. If someone is shooting at you, do you choose morals or your own life? According to At Issue from the SIRS database, Stand Your Ground laws allow citizens to use lethal force to defend themselves without risk of prosecution. The opposition states Stand Your Ground laws you have a duty to retreat first before using lethal force. Supporters of Stand Your Ground laws say citizens have the right to protect themselves. The opposition believes the laws are poorly understood and encourage violence (Sirs). This …show more content…
Firstly, The Stand Your Ground Law is not applied consistently. Richard Stu, A staff columnist for the Washington Square News writes that a South Carolina woman Whitlee Jones, killed her boyfriend when he was beating her, and she was unable to use the Stand Your Ground defense (Stu). Who is more deserving to use Stand Your Ground Law than a woman trying to protect herself and save her own life? Stu says that women are 16 times more likely to be killed by someone they know (Stu). Stu points to another instance where a Florida woman shot her gun at the ceiling in an attempt to scare off her husband, who was strangling her. The Stand Your Ground defense was not able to be used for her either (Stu). She was sentenced to 20 years in prison. The law should have helped both of these women, but since it was not a racial battle and did not fit the correct cultural perceptions of what danger is, it was thrown out. The underlying statement of Stu`s article is “Regardless of whether the law is just, the unfairness in its execution necessitates serious examination” (Stu). If we are going to keep the law we need to change how it is applied. Secondly, Stand Your Ground Laws do not protect equally. Ben Jealous, a writer for Sun-Sentinel did “a study of nearly 200 Stand Your Ground cases in Florida [he] found that homicide defendants who hid behind the law were 24 percent more likely to …show more content…
Firstly, people should not kill each other; except in the line of duty. In view of this, ending someone’s life does not just affect them, it also affects their parents and siblings. Researcher, Cecilia Scott, found that when someone dies, another 20 or more are affected. She also believes that person could be a mother or father. By killing them you make the other parent work twice as hard, and you make it harder for the children to succeed. She also states that you have no idea what good that person has done. They are young and not developed yet. Do not end someone’s life before they even really get to live it. Secondly, this law has led to about 600 more deaths per state accepting this law per year on average. That is 13,600 lives claimed per year times eleven that is 149,600 lives. 23 percent of those were under the age of 20. 34,408 teenagers died already how many more will you allow. Therefore, the problem is Stand Your Ground Law adds to the death toll. Thirdly, there are other means of stopping someone than killing them. For instance self-defense classes are literally taught everywhere. Self-defense moves would stop the attacker and save your own life. In conclusion Stand Your Ground Law increases the use of violence and lead to wrongful deaths. In summary this paper has explored the pros, cons, and my viewpoint on Stand Your Ground law. There are two
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