On 2013-07-17, at 7:03 PM, Jordan Hayes wrote:
> Wojtek writes:
>
>> I still believe that avoiding confrontation and not having
>> a deadly weapon is better than "standing your ground".
>
> Here we go again :-)
>
> I don't think "stand your ground" means what you think it does.
>
> Again, I'll implore you to take 3-5 minutes to read something like this:
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stand-your-ground_law
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_doctrine
The links led me to a recent study by two Texas A & M academics entitled "Does Strengthening Self-Defence Law Deter Crime or Escalate Violence? Evidence From Expansions to the Castle Doctrine". The study examined the experience of the 20 states which adopted "stand your ground" or "castle doctrine" laws between 2000-2010. The abstract concluded that "the laws do not deter robbery, burglary, or aggravated assault. In contrast, they led to a statistically significant 8 per cent net increase in the number of reported murders and non-negligent manslaughters."
See: http://econweb.tamu.edu/mhoekstra/castle_doctrine.pdf