Stand Your Ground Law Recommendation Paper



Stand Your Ground Law: Policy Recommendation Paper

Introduction

Every country has a law department, responsible for developing laws, regulations and policies. Policy makers create policies to facilitate general public in their everyday life. Public policy revolves around the general public of a country. Its purpose is to facilitate ordinary people from different walks of life. The popularity and sustainability of a government is also dependent on the policies enforced in their tenure. A public policy describes the actions; a government enforce and objectives of taking those actions. A public policy is a set of actions taken by the government or their representatives, to resolve issues of social concerns. The law and authority are the roots of public policy. It is also important to make sure that the provision of rights is consistent and that everybody has an equal right to it. A public policy affects citizens in uncountable ways. The citizens may have absolute awareness or they may be ignorant of it. Policy makers create policies carefully. They examine every aspect of implementing a policy, its pros & cons. There is an obvious intention to pick any loose ends that may cause trouble to citizens in one way or the other.

The prevalence of crime has adverse affects not only on the economy but also in the life of a common man. Crimes spread chaos, fear, grief and terror among citizens and in no way acceptable in a society. Law enforcement agencies are responsible to stop any sprouting crime in the country or state. Not only that but it is equally important to discourage all of its associated elements by putting them on trial. 'Stand your ground' is a public policy which strengthens a civilian's right to use force against a person, determined to take his/her life. This paper presents a critical analysis of 'Stand your ground' policy. It also states recommendations for policy. Before drawing recommendations, I'll be discussing Stand Your Ground policy briefly as it will help establish the true context of the recommendations. For the purpose of simplicity, I'll be using 'SYG' to indicate Stand Your Ground policy.

An overview of Stand Your Ground policy

The SYG policy is a self-defense law which explains the justifiable use of force. The law explains that citizens or residents (presuming the fear of bodily harm or death) can use deadly force against an intruder who breaks into their house or property unlawfully. They can use any form of force to save their lives and protect themselves from injuries (www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes).

The law also states if a person is under attack at any other place (which is open to public) there is no obligation to retreat if he or she believes there is a threat of life or injuries. Such a person has all the right to respond with force or even deadly force. In either case, the person will exercise immunity from criminal prosecution unless law agency finds the case involves unlawful use of force (www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes).

If the authorities take civil action and ...