Reasonable force for purposes of self-defence - Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008

Question 1

What two questions will the jury ask when determining if force used in self defence was necessary?

Answer 1

• What does the defendant think happened?
• Based on this, was the use of force reasonable?

Question 2

Explain what genuine belief is

Answer 2

What you** **honestly believe the situation to be.

If you honestly believed you were about to be attacked but then weren’t, the genuine belief you were about to be attacked is what the magistrate/jury should look at.

Question 3

What is reasonable force in the context of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008?

Answer 3

• In a set of circumstances determined by the defendant
• What force would be reasonable if those were the circumstances

Question 4

What if you have made a mistake on your assessment of the situation?

Answer 4

• If you believed** a certain level of **force was going to be inflicted on you (e.g. knife)
• Responded** at a similar level to **defend yourself (e.g crowbar)
• But were later found to be mistaken
• You might still be justified because of your genuine belief at the time