Is Deadly Force Justified?
What About Rape?
By Kathy Jackson
Before you read this article, please READ MY DISCLAIMER at the bottom
of the page.
Please do not just take my word, or anyone else's word, about any of these
legal issues. I AM NOT A LAWYER and THIS ARTICLE IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE.
You should look up your own state laws and do your own research about
how those laws apply to you. If you do not understand anything, ask a
qualified expert in your own state law to explain the statutes to you.
This stuff is way too serious to simply trust the word of some chick on
the 'net. LOOK IT UP YOURSELF.
Generally speaking, deadly force is justified in response to an attempted
rape.
Deadly force is justfied in response to rape not because rape always
involves death or grave bodily harm (although it too often does), but
because there is a clearly-understood threat that the rapist will kill
or seriously hurt his victim if she does not cooperate with him. The implied
threat of death or serious injury for non-cooperation is present even
if the rapist never says a single word to his victim, and its presence
is part of what defines the crime of rape.
Whenever an attacker uses deadly force against his intended victim, his
intended victim may legally use deadly force in response.
In the case of forceful rape, the force being used against the intended
victim meets the legal definition of deadly force. So she may legally
use deadly force to defend herself and prevent the rape.
Please read the A,O,J article for more
discussion about the circumstances in which deadly force is, or is not,
legally justified.
Lethal force expert Massad Ayoob wrote an article about this for
Backwoods Home Magazine some years back. The concepts are as fresh
as they ever were, and you can find the article online at
http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles/ayoob65.html
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contact author.
Disclaimer: The author of this
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own choices and taking responsibility for same. If you are not an adult,
or are not capable of taking responsibility for your own choices, STOP.
Do not read anything else on this site. The author has made a reasonable,
good-faith effort to assure that the articles herein are accurate and
contain good advice, but hereby advises the reader that the author is
a normal human being who makes the normal number of human mistakes. Deal
with it. If it sounds stupid to you, don't do it. The author accepts absolutely
no responsibility whatsoever for anything you might say or do as a result
of reading any material on this site. Live your own life.