Since the sixth century when the Roman law code known as the Codex Justinianius was made, self defense was recognized as a preexisting natural right that every human is entitled to. Many different laws have been made since then to protect this right, but the recent Stand Your Ground laws have become popular because of the controversy surrounding them. Florida was the first state to adopt the Stand Your Ground law in 2005, and now over half of the states in the United States have adopted different forms of the same law. For example, the Castle Doctrine, which gives people the right to protect their property with deadly force if needed. The rest of the states practice the duty to retreat, which do not allow the victim to …show more content…
Many believe that these laws encourage and defend discrimination and give people a pass to unjustified murders. With these laws, more teenagers are being put in harm 's way and being murdered for things that teenagers involve themselves in pranks and petty crimes, and their killers are getting away with it. Some believe that “Stand Your Ground laws are ‘going to disproportionately result in more consequences to teenagers that are beyond the scope of what the kids were really doing,’” (Jonsson). Teenagers are known for their immaturity as they make the same mistakes over and over again. When they grow up, they realize that there are better ways to spend their time. Usually, these minor mistakes have minor consequences, but with the Stand Your Ground laws, teens have the potential to be put in greater danger. Teens have been shot to death while the self defense laws justify these horrible actions. For example, when three boys were charged with murder after their friend was shot and killed while attempting to break into fishing cottages. Although what the boys did was wrong and against the law, none of them deserved to die. While the boys were indicted, the man who sent out the warning shot was able to walk away free. It is cases like these that shine a negative light on the Stand Your Ground laws. These laws can also encourage racial profiling and discrimination against different races, genders, and ages. With the prominence of existing racial profiling, the Stand Your Ground laws can sometimes be “a recipe for mayhem that was capable of causing legal homicide against people of color” (Covington). With such laws, “an individual could easily kill someone and, with a decent attorney, get away with it” (Covington). There has been many instances when discrimination has led to violence. With the Stand Your Ground laws, this discrimination can be defended by stating that there was a feeling of being