evaluation

• How does the law address the necessity of force in self-defence cases??

  The jury determines whether force used was necessary in a given situation.

  Section 76(6A) of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 clarifies that the victim does not need to retreat.

  Section 76 allows defendants to rely on a mistake as long as it wasn’t due to intoxication.
• What rights do householders have regarding self-defence??


  Householders have the right to defend themselves and their property using force, within limits.

  Section 76(5A) stipulates that householders will only be prosecuted for using “grossly disproportionate” force.

  However, terms like "reasonable", "proportionate", and "grossly disproportionate" remain undefined, subject to judicial interpretation.
• Is self-defence an all-or-nothing defence??

  Defendants do not need to wait to be attacked first; they can act preemptively.

  However, those who use excessive force, even if some force was justified, cannot use this defence.

  This can lead to convictions, with mandatory life sentences for murder, as seen in the case of R v Martin.

  The Law Commission rejected adding excessive-force self-defence as a partial defence to murder, instead recommending an extension of provocation to cover such situations, now covered by the "loss of control" law.
• What statutory confusion exists regarding self-defence??

  Section 76(6) of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 allows for reasonable force.

  The Crime and Courts Act 2013 permits householders to use more force, provided it doesn’t become “grossly disproportionate”.

  Judges must inform juries that householders have more protection in their homes but cannot use “grossly disproportionate” force, yet the lack of definitions poses challenges.
• Does the defence of self-defence apply to property protection??

  No, the defence does not apply if force is used to recover stolen property.

  In R v Williams, it was ruled that the rules of self-defence do not extend to force used to recover stolen property.