stand your ground
Stand your ground is a self-defense legal doctrine that allows a person to use reasonable force to protect themselves against an imminent threat of danger or death without attempting to retreat from the situation. Stand your ground contrasts the duty to retreat doctrine because the former permits necessary force regardless of whether the party can safely escape the situation. Stand your ground includes the use of deadly force when proportional to the threat of danger.
Stand your ground evolved from the castle doctrine to apply to public spaces, or any place where a person has a legal right to be. About two-thirds of U.S. states have passed some form of a stand your ground statute, although exceptions or specifications vary by jurisdiction. For example, Florida Statute 776.02 states that a person who is justified in using deadly force, “does not have a duty to retreat and has the right to stand his or her ground if the person using or threatening to use the deadly force is not engaged in a criminal activity and is in a place where he or she has a right to be.”
[Last reviewed in May of 2026 by the Wex Definitions Team]
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