24 Mar Standing Your Ground in California

In California, you have the right to defend yourself, even if you’re not inside of your home at the time. The issue is dealt with in California’s self-defense laws which are more popularly referred to as Stand-Your-Ground laws.What the Stand-Your-Ground laws do is provide you with a way to hold tight and defend yourself from an attack. The law most commonly come into play when a person encounters a burglar inside their home, but they also come into play in parking lots, parks, lawns, public buildings, and even on the road.The idea behind the Stand-Your-Ground laws is that you should be able to defend yourself without having to worry about criminal prosecution.It’s important to understand that the Stand-Your-Ground laws don’t give you free rein to do whatever you want. You are still expected to use some common sense and to not use unnecessary force in response to a minor concern.In order to use the Stand-Your-Ground laws as self-defense, a few things have to happen.

• You have to show that you could reasonably believe that your health, safety, or life was in danger during that specific moment
• You had to genuinely believe that the degree of force you used in response to the threat was appropriate in the situation
• You have to prove that you didn’t use an excessive amount of force given the nature of the threat