A long-established legal doctrine that allows an ordinary person to defend against an unarmed attacker whose advantages make the encounter effectively deadly.
Recognize when unarmed force can lawfully be treated as deadly force.
The law recognizes that not every fight is fair. A 100-pound woman facing a 250-pound attacker, an elderly man facing three teenagers, a single person pinned against a wall - all of these carry disparity of force.
Skill counts too. A trained fighter attacking an untrained one, or an attacker with a known history of violence, can turn an 'unarmed' assault into a lawful deadly-force scenario.
After the encounter, the facts a jury needs are the ones you can articulate: 'He was larger. He was between me and the door. He said he would kill me.' Learn to describe the disparity, not just the fear.
- 1Size, age, skill, and number can all create disparity
- 2Ground position and confined space escalate a threat
- 3Document the facts a jury needs to see the disparity
- Assuming 'unarmed' means 'not deadly'
- Failing to notice or articulate the disparity after the fact
- Overreacting to a mismatch that did not actually create disparity