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Whether a jurisdiction follows stand-your-ground or duty-to-retreat is just one element of its self-defense laws. Different jurisdictions allow deadly force against different crimes. All American states allow it against prior deadly force, great bodily injury, and likely kidnapping or rape; some also allow it against threat of robbery and burglary.
Deadly force, also known as lethal force, is the use of force that is likely to cause serious bodily injury or death to another person. In most jurisdictions, the use of deadly force is justified only under conditions of extreme necessity as a last resort , when all lesser means have failed or cannot reasonably be employed.
Maryland also continues to follow common law principles on the issue of when one may use deadly force in self-defense. In the case of State v.Faulkner, 301 Md. 482, 485, 483 A.2d 759, 761 (1984), the Court of Appeals of Maryland summarized those principles, and stated that a homicide, other than felony murder, is justified on the ground of self-defense if the following criteria are satisfied:
In 2016, the state amended its use of force laws, removing the duty to retreat before defending oneself, at home or in public. ... (even deadly) force to repel that threat, and there are legal and ...
Experts say the police shootings, two of hundreds across the U.S. each year, underscore the prevalent use of deadly force by law enforcement despite widespread de-escalation standards.
Under U.S. law the fleeing felon rule was limited in 1985 to non-lethal force in most cases by Tennessee v. Garner, 471 U.S. 1.The justices held that deadly force "may not be used unless necessary to prevent the escape and the officer has probable cause to believe that the suspect poses a significant threat of death or serious bodily harm to the officer or others."
In the U.S., most states apply instead the stand your ground doctrine of self-defense; whereby an otherwise law abiding individual, while in any location they have a legal right to be, enjoys an extremely broad right to self-defense, being under no legal obligation to retreat from an agressor regardless of ease or ability to do so.
Over the past 30 years, a majority of states have enacted “stand your ground” laws that allow deadly force to be used even when other options might be available.