Discuss the justification defenses of duress, self-defense, necessity, and entrapment. Describe a situation in which each defense may be used

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Justification defenses are based on a defendant admitting that he or she
o committed the particular criminal act, but asserting that, under the circumstances, the criminal act was justified.
With a defense of duress, the defendant must prove that he or she performed the criminal act under the use or threat of use of unlawful force against his or her
o person that a reasonable person would have been unable to resist; for example, a mother assists her boyfriend in committing a burglary after he threatens to kill her children if she refuses to do so.
Self-defense claims that the defendant acted in a manner to defend himself or
o herself, others, or property, or to prevent a commission of a crime; for example, a husband awakens to find his wife standing over him, pointing a shotgun at his
chest, and in the ensuing struggle, the firearm goes off, killing the wife.
The defense of necessity states that the criminal act the defendant committed was necessary in order to avoid a harm to himself or herself or to another that
o was greater than the harm caused by the act before; for example, four people physically remove a friend from her residence on the property of a religious cult,
arguing that the crime of kidnapping was justified in order to remove the victim from the damaging influence of cult leaders.
The entrapment defense states that the defendant was encouraged by agents of the state to engage in a criminal act she or he would not have engaged in
o otherwise; for example, the owner of a boat marina agrees to allow three federal drug enforcement agents, posing as drug dealers, to use his dock to unload shipments of marijuana from Columbia.