Criminal Law Ch 5

• Know that defendants aren't criminally liable if their actions were justified or excused under the circumstances and understand how the affirmative defenses operate in justified and excused conduct.
• Understand that self-defense limits the use of deadly force to those who reasonably believe that they're faced with the choice to kill or be killed right now.
• Know and understand the four elements of self-defense.
• Understand the retreat rule and its historic transformation that led to the stand-your- ground rule.
• Know and understand the exceptions to the retreat rule, and to appreciate their impact on self-defense in cases of domestic violence.
• Know and appreciate how self-defense has been expanded to include the defense of others, the home, and property.
• Appreciate how the new "Castle Laws" are drastically transforming the law of self- defense, and to understand their application to self-defense cases.
• Know that the choice-of-evils defense justifies the commission of a lesser crime to avoid an imminent threat of harm from a greater evil.
• Know that the defense of consent is a justification defense based on the high value placed on individual autonomy in a free society.