Stand Your Ground laws are often touted as a crime deterrent but is that really the case? Since Trayvon Martin’s death in April these laws have come under scrutiny for effectiveness and safety risks.
Florida’s Governor Rick Scott announced that its Stand Your Ground law, which sparked this national debate, will be investigated by a newly created state task force. The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights has also announced its own nationwide investigation.
Initial results are in and it doesn’t look good for stand your ground supporters.
There was an increase in justifiable homicides in the five years after many states implemented Stand Your Ground laws (compared to the five years prior), according to a new Texas A&M University study. The study analyzed state crime data from 2000-2009 and found a significant increase in justifiable homicides after 2005, the year many states implemented stand your ground statutes.
Supporters still insist that these laws protect individuals from violence but evidence is mounting that stand your ground may encourage violence rather than deter it. An in depth look at stand your ground by the Tampa Bay Times showed that the law is often invoked in cases where self-defense does not clearly require deadly force.
At this point, investigators are simply questioning the efficacy of stand your ground but that may change if more results support the already published reports.
Related Resources:
- Task force on Stand Your Ground holds hearing Tuesday
- (Miami Herald)
- Florida
- task force begins reviewing contentious ‘stand your ground’ self-defense law
- (The Washington Post)
- ‘Stand Your Ground’ Laws: State by State (FindLaw’s
- Blotter)
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