Killing in Self-defence

Killing in Self-defence
Author: Fiona Leverick
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 246
Release: 2006
Genre: Law
ISBN: 019928346X

In what circumstances should we be allowed to kill an intruder who breaks into our home? Should battered women be forgiven for killing their husbands? This book analyses the questions raised by the argument of self-defence, and offers a theoretical framework for understanding the defence in the context of human rights norms.

Permissible Killing

Permissible Killing
Author: Suzanne Uniacke
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 258
Release: 1994
Genre: Law
ISBN: 9780521564588

Do individuals have a positive right of self-defence? And if so, what are the limits of this right? Under what conditions, if any, does this use of force extend to the defence of others? These are some of the issues explored by Dr Uniacke in this comprehensive philosophical discussion of the principles relevant to self-defence as a moral and legal justification of homicide. She establishes a unitary right of self-defence and defence of others, one which grounds the permissibility of the use of necessary and proportionate defensive force against culpable and non-culpable, active and passive, unjust threats. Particular topics discussed include: the nature of moral and legal justification and excuse; natural law justifications of homicide in self-defence; the Principle of Double Effect and the claim that homicide in self-defence is justified as unintended killing; and the question of self-preferential killing. This is a lucid and sophisticated account of the complex notion of justification, revolving around a critical discussion of recent trends in the law of self-defence.

The Cambridge Companion to Life and Death

The Cambridge Companion to Life and Death
Author: Steven Luper
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 369
Release: 2014-02-13
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 1107022878

This volume discusses the philosophical issues connected with the nature and significance of life and death, and the ethics of killing. It will be of interest to all those taking courses on the philosophy of life and death, applied ethics covering abortion, euthanasia, and suicide, and ethics and metaphysics.

Stand Your Ground

Stand Your Ground
Author: Caroline Light
Publisher: Beacon Press
Total Pages: 242
Release: 2017-02-14
Genre: History
ISBN: 0807064661

A history of America’s Stand Your Ground gun laws, from Reconstruction to Trayvon Martin After a young, white gunman killed twenty-six people at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, in December 2012, conservative legislators lamented that the tragedy could have been avoided if the schoolteachers had been armed and the classrooms equipped with guns. Similar claims were repeated in the aftermath of other recent shootings—after nine were killed in a church in Charleston, South Carolina, and in the aftermath of the massacre in the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida. Despite inevitable questions about gun control, there is a sharp increase in firearm sales in the wake of every mass shooting. Yet, this kind of DIY-security activism predates the contemporary gun rights movement—and even the stand-your-ground self-defense laws adopted in thirty-three states, or the thirteen million civilians currently licensed to carry concealed firearms. As scholar Caroline Light proves, support for “good guys with guns” relies on the entrenched belief that certain “bad guys with guns” threaten us all. Stand Your Ground explores the development of the American right to self-defense and reveals how the original “duty to retreat” from threat was transformed into a selective right to kill. In her rigorous genealogy, Light traces white America’s attachment to racialized, lethal self-defense by unearthing its complex legal and social histories—from the original “castle laws” of the 1600s, which gave white men the right to protect their homes, to the brutal lynching of “criminal” Black bodies during the Jim Crow era and the radicalization of the NRA as it transitioned from a sporting organization to one of our country’s most powerful lobbying forces. In this convincing treatise on the United States’ unprecedented ascension as the world’s foremost stand-your-ground nation, Light exposes a history hidden in plain sight, showing how violent self-defense has been legalized for the most privileged and used as a weapon against the most vulnerable.

Self-Defense and Battered Women Who Kill

Self-Defense and Battered Women Who Kill
Author: Robbin S. Ogle
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Total Pages: 222
Release: 2002-08-30
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0313016100

Battering relationships often escalate to a point where the battered woman commits homicide. When such homicides occur, attention is usually focused on the final violent encounter; however, Ogle and Jacobs argue, while that act is the last homicidal encounter, it is not the only one. This important study argues that the battering relationship is properly understood as a long-term homicidal process that, if played out to the point that contrition dissipates, is very likely to result in the death of one of the parties. In that context, Ogle and Jacobs posit a social interaction perspective for understanding the situational, cultural, social, and structural forces that work toward maintaining the battering relationship and escalating it to a homicidal end. This book details this theory and explains how to apply it in a trial setting. Elements of self-defense law are problematic for battered women who kill their abusers. These include imminence, reasonableness of the victim's perception of danger, and reasonableness of the victim's choice of lethal violence and their proportionality. Social interaction theory argues that, once contrition dissipates, imminence is constant. The victim functions in an unending state of extreme tension and fear. This allows us to understand the victim's view of the violence as escalating beyond control, thereby increasing her reasonable perception of danger and lethality. After social resources, for whatever reason, fail to end the violence, it is then reasonable for the victim to conclude that she will have to act in her own defense in order to survive.

War and Self-Defense

War and Self-Defense
Author: David Rodin
Publisher: Clarendon Press
Total Pages: 232
Release: 2002-10-17
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0191531545

When is it right to go to war? The most persuasive answer to this question has always been 'in self-defense'. In a penetrating new analysis, bringing together moral philosophy, political science, and law, David Rodin shows what's wrong with this answer. He proposes a comprehensive new theory of the right of self-defense which resolves many of the perplexing questions that have dogged both jurists and moral philosophers. By applying the theory of self-defense to international relations, Rodin produces a far-reaching critique of the canonical Just War theory. The simple analogy between self-defense and national defense - between the individual and the state - needs to be fundamentally rethought, and with it many of the basic elements of international law and the ethics of international relations.

NATO Rules of Engagement

NATO Rules of Engagement
Author: Camilla Guldahl Cooper
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 498
Release: 2019-12-02
Genre: Law
ISBN: 9004401687

In NATO Rules of Engagement, Camilla Guldahl Cooper offers clarity on a topic prone to confusion and misunderstanding. NATO rules of engagement (ROE) are of considerable political, strategic and operational importance, yet many of its concepts lack clarity. The resulting ambiguity may be detrimental for people involved and for mission accomplishment. Through a thorough analysis of the concept, purpose, development and use of NATO ROE, Cooper contributes to improved understanding and implementation of NATO ROE. The book covers all use of force categories and relevant law relating to the use of force during armed conflicts, including the complex concepts of hostile act and hostile intent, direct participation in hostilities, and the increasing reliance on self-defence during armed conflict.

The Illustrated Guide to Criminal Law

The Illustrated Guide to Criminal Law
Author: Nathaniel Burney
Publisher: Jones McClure
Total Pages: 340
Release: 2012
Genre: Criminal law
ISBN: 9781598391831

"Based on his popular Illustrated Guide to Law webcomic series, Nathaniel Burney debunks all of the popular myths about criminal law that get repeated on street corners, in locker rooms, and on websites every day -- all of them wrong. He teaches everything you never learned about the law. Not just what the law is, but why it's like that and how it works. The Illustrated Guide to Criminal Law is a complete law school course that keeps the laughter in manslaughter. You start with the absolute basics (what is crime?) and are soon deep in complex concepts like conspiracy, self-defense, and yes, entrapment -- all explained with clarity, humor, and passion"--From publisher's description.

Self-Defence in Criminal Law

Self-Defence in Criminal Law
Author: Boaz Sangero
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 394
Release: 2006-07-24
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1847312748

This book combines a careful philosophical discussion of the rationale justifying self-defence with a detailed discussion of the range of statutory self-defence requirements, as well as discussions of numerous other relevant issues (i.e. putative self-defense, excessive self-defense, earlier guilt and battered women). The book argues that before formulating definitions for each aspect of self-defence (necessity, proportionality, retreat, immediacy, mental element, etc.) it is imperative to determine the proper rationale for self-defence and, only then to derive the appropriate solutions. The first part contains an in-depth discussion of why society allows a justification for acts but does not excuse the actor from criminal liability, and the author critically analyzes current theories (culpability of the aggressor; autonomy of the attacked person; protection of the social-legal order; balancing interests; choice of the lesser evil) and points out the weaknesses of each theory before proposing a new theory to explain the justification of self-defence. The new theory is that for the full justification of self-defence, a balance of interests must be struck between the expected physical injury to the attacked person and the expected physical injury to the aggressor, as well as the relevant abstract factors: the autonomy of the attacked person, the culpability of the aggressor, and the social-legal order. The author demonstrates how ignoring one or more of these factors leads to erroneous results and how the proposed rationale can be applied to develop solutions to the complex questions raised.

Defensive Killing

Defensive Killing
Author: Helen Frowe
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Total Pages: 241
Release: 2014-10-23
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0191502456

Most people believe that it is sometimes morally permissible for a person to use force to defend herself or others against harm. In Defensive Killing, Helen Frowe offers a detailed exploration of when and why the use of such force is permissible. She begins by considering the use of force between individuals, investigating both the circumstances under which an attacker forfeits her right not to be harmed, and the distinct question of when it is all-things-considered permissible to use force against an attacker. Frowe then extends this enquiry to war, defending the view that we should judge the ethics of killing in war by the moral rules that govern killing between individuals. She argues that this requires us to significantly revise our understanding of the moral status of non-combatants in war. Non-combatants who intentionally contribute to an unjust war forfeit their rights not to be harmed, such that they are morally liable to attack by combatants fighting a just war.