Florida\u27s Stand Your Ground Law: Enforcement Inconsistencies and Inherent Ambiguities

Theory maintains that immediate and consistent enforcement of a new rule is required for clarification of behavioral expectations. Inconsistencies in the implementation of Florida’s Stand Your Ground (SYG) law are examined, based upon 302 decisions rendered from 2005 through 2012. It is argued that, by removing the duty to retreat, SYG has turned justified self-defense from a more objective interpretation of the law by legal actors into a more subjective one