Evan Thomas
Inactive
1. A person who commits a crime for which their victim would be justified in the use of lethal force against them has chosen DEATH.
2. How about the mentally ill who do not understand the nature and consequences of their act or that is was wrong. Has that person CHOSEN death
OK, I'll bite on the "mentally ill" thing... Assuming we mean "mentally ill" in the sense of diminished capacity -- someone for whom an insanity defense would be likely to succeed -- It makes no difference to what I would do: I have no way of knowing what someone's mental state is. If they're threatening me and I can safely retreat, I will, and if I can't, then I'll defend myself with whatever force is available.
Someone who's, in effect, legally insane, who doesn't understand the nature and consequences of their actions, cannot be said to have CHOSEN death by breaking in my door or coming in through my window, any more than
... a drunk who thinks it's his own house...
... or an eight-year-old on a dare...
... or that (drunk?) woman who really, really needs to use the bathroom...
is proving, by forcing their way into my house, that they've CHOSEN death.
You can't claim to know that someone has "chosen death" any more than you can tell at a glance if they're mentally ill; you have to decide what to do based on their behavior, not on inferences about their mental state. So if you believe that anyone who comes into your house without permission is automatically an immediate threat to your life, then you'll immediately be willing to use lethal force to defend yourself.
If you believe that there's more than one reason someone might force entry, and that more than one kind of person might do so, then your response might be more conservative: retreating upstairs or to a safe room, or just getting some distance between you while you see how much of a threat they actually are: is this person a child? is this person falling-down drunk? is this person showing a weapon? is this person a huge guy who isn't showing a weapon, but outweighs you by a hundred pounds or so? All of these are things you might be able to determine more or less quickly, perhaps in a second or two, if you give yourself the opportunity to do so.
Another thing comes to mind here: if you've decided, before the fact, that anyone who forces entry is a lethal threat, then you're probably more likely to miss cues that they might not be. As I recall, there's a good bit of evidence for this kind of effect of belief on perception. (Care to comment on that, Glenn?)
Last edited: