Self Defence

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  • Created by: 10dhall
  • Created on: 22-05-17 11:51
What is the defence of self defence made to cover?
Self protection, protection of property, protection of others from attack, the prevention of crime and the arrest of an offender
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Where can the defence be used in common law?
Where; the accused uses threats or violence, the accused acts in defence of others
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Case example on protecting others?
Dufy 1967 - the defendant wounded someone else while protecting her sister
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What does section 3 of the Criminal Law Act 1967 state a person can use reasonable force to do?
To; prevent crime, arrest an offender or suspected offenders and to arrest people unlawfully at large
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What does s76 of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 state?
It considers what amounts to reasonable force, and that the court should look at what D thought the situation was - if their belief was reasonable they can rely on it even if they made a mistake
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What does s54 and 56 of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 deal with?
Killings as a result of fear
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What are the principles emerging from the fact that the use of force has to be necessary?
Pre-emptive strikes are acceptable if an attack is expected, must be imminently (Beckford 1988), if there was another way of dealing with it (fegan 1972), not acceptable for a gang defend (Devlin v Armstrong), can break the law to protect himself
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If the D breaks the law to protect himself will he still be guilty of the crime?
Yes, such as carrying knifes - Attorney General's Reference no2
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What happened in the case of Beckford?
The D phoned the police saying her brother was armed and threatening her, the police arrived and shot him although he was not armed
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What happened in the case of Fegan?
The defendant was a roman catholic man married to a protestant - because of this he had been threatened and beaten, and bought a revolver for protection, jury were directed that if he had it for good reason he can be aqcuitted
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What happened in Devlin v Armstrong?
The D and a group of people were trying to exclude the police by force, the D exhorted a crowd to build barricades and petrol bombs - her defence was that the police were acting unlawfully, court held no defence
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Is there a duty to retreat?
Originally in Julien it was stated the D had to make it clear they did not want to fight, since then the case of Bird arose where a girl argue with her old boyfriend and lost her temper with him and gouged his eye out - she was not guilty as self D
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What does LASPO 2012 state about the duty to retreat?
It states that a person is not under a duty to retreat when acting for a legitimate purpose, but if the person could have retreated it is a factor taken into account
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How is reasonable force judged?
It is judged by a two stage test; the jury will first look at it from D's standpoint and what did they think was happening/how much danger - a subjective test
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What is a case example on reasonable force?
Batchelor 2009 - not guilty after shooting a bouncer who was known as a serial thug who had threatened to kill him 9 times
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What are the facts about drink or a mental condition?
If the D's perception is abnormal from drink or a mental condition; if D makes a mistake about the level of threat because of voluntarily being drunk it will make the mistake unreasonable and if it has been spiked; counts as a mitigating factor
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What are the recent cases on self defence?
Hitchens 2011, Yaman 2012 and Morris 2013
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What happened in Hitchens 2011?
Boyfriend slapped her and was charged with battery
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What happened in Yaman 2012?
Thought people were burgling their kebab shop but were only there to check the meter, D hit one person with a hammer and was convicted under GBH
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What happened in Morris 2013?
Broke a man's ankle when the passengers did not pay
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What is a case example regarding self defence and intoxicated mistake?
O'Grady 1987 - woke up to find out his friend had cut him on the head with a piece of glass and fought him to stop him doing it again which killed him, was convicted of manslaughter
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Evaluation of the law on self defence?
The test is difficult to apply and to justify because it involves both subjective and objective elements, especially difficult within mental illness, different people are judged differently depending on situations, new law has been called unneccasary
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What act is governed by this?
Section 3 of the Criminal Justice Act 1967
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Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

Where can the defence be used in common law?

Back

Where; the accused uses threats or violence, the accused acts in defence of others

Card 3

Front

Case example on protecting others?

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

What does section 3 of the Criminal Law Act 1967 state a person can use reasonable force to do?

Back

Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

What does s76 of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 state?

Back

Preview of the front of card 5
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