imported post
RichB 99GTP wrote:
I'm glad this topic came up, as I have been interested in it lately. I notice the author of the article mentions the definitions of Disparity of Force, but has no cites for this.
In the past few weeks, I've been googling like mad trying to find legal definitions in either court cases or constitutional/state law and have found nothing!
Can anyone link me to the definition of "Disparity of Force" in a legal document?
Much Thanks!
Dispararity of Force is the umbrella term for a number circumstances in self-defense situations. People have been stabbing, clubbing, and shooting assailants for centuries.
Meaning, I've never heard of any statutes that list it. And court opinions are going to reference aspecificcircumstance, I'm thinking.
The body of law contained in court opinions is sometimes referred to as common law. And that stuff goes back maybe almost a thousand years in English law, further if you count the un-recorded traditions that courts used in making their decisions way, way back in time. What I'm trying to say here is that courts probably wouldn't have been making a general discussion and list of what constitutes disparity of force. If anything they would have been saying something like, "Man against woman. Woman isjustified in using lethal force because its been long considered a man is stronger. Conviction of woman overturned." And you understand, it would be the appeals courts. The trial court records would just be "guilty" or "not guilty." Although you may find something by google where a newspaper or academicpaper references a trial or trials wherespecific circumstances that amounted to disparity of force were found to constitute justification for lethal force and the defender was either not indicted or found not guilty.
If you want to know the things that aregenerally considered to fit disparity of force, I recommend google forarmed self-defense websites. There are a few. Thenbookson armed self-defense.
Oh, in his video,
Judicious Use of Deadly Force, Massad Ayoob mentions a very thick book in law school libraries about homicide. One particular book, the title of which I cannot recall. I believe the title included the word homicide. If there was a law school nearby, you could call or check their library for such a book. Maybe the county law library is publicly accessible, too.