Can I Kill a Burglar?

[salavan]

what an absolutly splendid idea

[humqdpf]

Not only in the USA - in the UK there have been numerous killings of people breaking in. The general case is whether it was premeditated and whether they can convince a jury that they were scared for their life. A famous case of a farmer, robbed many times, that sat lying in wait with a shot gun - when a guy broke in he shot them - and went down (although there was a large public outcry about it - in the farmer's favour). Another case where a robber was stabbed several times in the chest and neck and died, still halfway through a window - he pleaded that he was washing up and therefore had access to the knife, which he instinctively grabbed and tried to make the burglar run away by sticking him with it - in fear and defence. He got away with it.

It's a crap shoot! Much better to scare them away than kill them - or even injure them.

In the USA, there is precedent for killing intruders in your home. In some states, it is because you are afraid of being harmed or killed. As a result, homeowners keep guns just in case they surprise a burglar. And of course burglars now go about their business armed.

[sgtsabai]

I believe you will find burglars have always gone about their 'business' armed, They certainly didn't just start arming themselves because more people acquired guns. There is a problem with keeping weapons in the home unsecured when nobody is there, if a burglar breaks in then, they get your weapons, hence the large increase in gun safe sales over the past 20 or so years. The same would apply here in Thailand, if you own a gun, do not leave it 'unattended'.

[jacko45k]

Where do you live......?

Texas, yes, you can kill anybody.

UK, no, if you catch a burglar you have to offer him tea and biscuits and send him on his way with a crisp £20 note.

[Radar501]

The justifications for shooting an intruder are a legal minefield.

A man's home is his castle, and I have been a victim of a house burglary when I was away. It is like your home has been raped, and you feel so dirty and violated.

So what would/should I have done if I was at home at the time? Being a fit, young bloke, I could have attempted to overpower the villain, right? Maybe, but even if he wasn't brandishing a weapon in his hand, I could never be sure of what might be concealed about his body and readily available for use........even if the burglar was a scrawny 50 kg woman.

.

Also, most home intruders are junkies searching for goods to make a quick sale to feed their addiction. With nerves on the edge, not even they are sure of what they are capable of if they were confronted.

So, if you had a gun, and felt that shooting was not disproportionate to the mischief sought to be prevented, do you aim for a leg or arm, as one post suggested? In a moment of high stress, you are lucky to hit the broad side of a barn with a bowling ball from point blank. That includes police who get regular firearms training. Nothing can ever prepare you for the real deal when it comes along with only a moment of forewarning.

If a firearm is used and the baddie goes down, the police, solicitors, coroners and courts of law have months and even years to scrutinise the events that unfolded in just a few very anxious seconds for the homeowner.

Justice maybe works a little different in Thailand. I would hate to be placed in that situation.

[belg]

should TV start a serial killer & rapist section for those kind of questions?

[IMA_FARANG]

No.

Only if you can prove that you were justified by a imminent direct threat to your life and you are therefore justified in defending yourself from that direct threat to your life.

And even then it will be hard to prove,

Someone stealing your property is NOT a legal justification for killing that person.

Nothing you own can be considered equal to the value of another person's life, even if that person was in the act of stealing your property.

As a police friend once said to me, "Don't shoot him , but if you do:

1. Make sure he had a gun
2. Make sure he fired the gun at you from outside your house.
3. If you kill him, make sure that his body is outside your house also.
4. But I didn't ever tell you this, and I would say that in court that I was ever asked the question.

[IMA_FARANG]

Where do you live......?

Texas, yes, you can kill anybody.

UK, no, if you catch a burglar you have to offer him tea and biscuits and send him on his way with a crisp £20 note.

--------------

Sorry, even in Texas the law has now been changed.

[warriorbangkok]

The way I see it is this:

If some degenerate piece of scum breaks into my house whilst me and my wife are sleeping, then I'm going to immediately get my flick knife (I have a flick knife version of an AK-47 bayonet) and I will stab the guy in the neck.

If a man is bold enough to break into my house at night, then he might be bold enough to kill me and my wife.

If I killed a burglar, then I should be praised. However, society has become so wimpy that most people would disagree with this.

[Radar501]

No.

Only if you can prove that you were justified by a imminent direct threat to your life and you are therefore justified in defending yourself from that direct threat to your life.

And even then it will be hard to prove,

Someone stealing your property is NOT a legal justification for killing that person.

Nothing you own can be considered equal to the value of another person's life, even if that person was in the act of stealing your property.

As a police friend once said to me, "Don't shoot him , but if you do:

1. Make sure he had a gun
2. Make sure he fired the gun at you from outside your house.
3. If you kill him, make sure that his body is outside your house also.
4. But I didn't ever tell you this, and I would say that in court that I was ever asked the question.

An imminent direct threat to you (or someone else's) life is precisely the justification I was pointing towards. Certainly not property loss.

So, what you mean is Yes.

Your police friend has given you some strange advice about shooting a burglar.

1. Make sure he has a gun.

So, there is no justification if he comes at you with a butcher's knife?

2. Make sure he fired the gun at you from inside your house.

If he is aiming his gun between your eyes, you have to wait for him to shoot first before taking any action? And only if inside the house, which directly contradicts point 3.

3. If you kill him, make sure that his body is outside your house also.

If you confront him in your bedroom and he appears to have intent on harm, there is no justification because he was not outside? Which contradicts point 2.

4. But I didn't ever tell you this, and I would say that in court that I was ever asked the question.

If I was that cop, I certainly wouldn't want to admit in court that I gave such ridiculous advice either.

[mrbojangles]

Where do you live......?

Texas, yes, you can kill anybody.

UK, no, if you catch a burglar you have to offer him tea and biscuits and send him on his way with a crisp £20 note.

Please ensure the biscuits are within the expiration date and he doesn't get a cut from the crisp £20 note or he could sue you

[robblok]

The way I see it is this:

If some degenerate piece of scum breaks into my house whilst me and my wife are sleeping, then I'm going to immediately get my flick knife (I have a flick knife version of an AK-47 bayonet) and I will stab the guy in the neck.

If a man is bold enough to break into my house at night, then he might be bold enough to kill me and my wife.

If I killed a burglar, then I should be praised. However, society has become so wimpy that most people would disagree with this.

Spoken like a true warrior

Some people a true warrior would use his hands and overpower the guy or girl and hand him to the police.

I like the idea of proportional force its a good and sound idea.. seems like many people are not after defense but vengeance.

[Curt1591]

I believe you will find burglars have always gone about their 'business' armed, They certainly didn't just start arming themselves because more people acquired guns. There is a problem with keeping weapons in the home unsecured when nobody is there, if a burglar breaks in then, they get your weapons, hence the large increase in gun safe sales over the past 20 or so years. The same would apply here in Thailand, if you own a gun, do not leave it 'unattended'.

"Overall, 61% of offenders were unarmed when violence occurred

during a burglary while a resident was present. About 12% of

all households violently burglarized while someone was home

faced an offender armed with a firearm."

http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/ascii/vdhb.txt

This points out that, as of 2010, only 40% of burglars are armed and only 12% were armed with a gun. In bygone days, one might assume the percentages to be even lower.

I think that one will find that the vast majority of burglaries, with intent to steal, are committed by drug users looking for quick cask. Most of them would sell any substantial weapon to get money to buy more drugs.

Edited January 19, 2014 by Curt1591

[drx13]

An aquaintance of mine is built like a gorilla and just as hairy.

One night a guy broke into his bedroom and he leapt up and grabbed him in a bear hug. The screams could be heard throughout the condo.

Of all the rooms he could chose..he chose Big Berts'.

I believe the intruder would have preferred being shot.

[HasipHasip5]

Move to Texas and you're golden! Go for it.

Edited January 19, 2014 by HasipHasip5

[maccaroni man]

Most will advice not to however if you do make sure the body is in your house when the BIB arrive and the process will go smoother

[Kilgore Trout]

Wherever one is from, one might need to react in whatever manner suits the circumstances they find themselves.

If you arrive home to find some punk walking out your door with your TV, one might be wise to simply tell the person to piss off.

If one awakes to a confrontation with an armed person, circumstance might dictate a different course of action.

Even in the scary old USA, one can't simply shoot a burglar and not face legal scrutiny and/or consequences.

Depending on the state; YES YOU CAN! In Texas for example; if someone steps one step on to your property, whether they are armed or not, whether they intend to rob you OR NOT; you have the legal right to shoot them dead on the spot, with absolutely no consequences whatsoever so long as you can prove that you thought you were in imminent danger. Known as "castle" doctrine.

There was recently a few example cases.

Edited January 20, 2014 by Kilgore Trout

[sgtsabai]

You better hope you can prove imminent danger and/or the dead person is poor, black, brown. If they are white and come from a 'good' family you just might be in a world of hurt, especially if you are the one that is poor, black, brown. I had friends in law enforcement, attorneys and judges there. I had to live back in SE Texass for 11 years before moving here permanently, not a nice place, in many ways worse than when I grew up there. I would say while not quite as blatant here, if you kill somebody from a prominent family on your property and in self-defense here you better have a lot of money, a lot.

[rucus7]

The way I see it is this:

If some degenerate piece of scum breaks into my house whilst me and my wife are sleeping, then I'm going to immediately get my flick knife (I have a flick knife version of an AK-47 bayonet) and I will stab the guy in the neck.

If a man is bold enough to break into my house at night, then he might be bold enough to kill me and my wife.

If I killed a burglar, then I should be praised. However, society has become so wimpy that most people would disagree with this.

My guess is you have been reading too many sensational novels.

[cup-O-coffee]

If a burglar comes into my house and I catch him, can I kill him legally?

Sounds like a bi-polar, paranoid exacerbation of an illegitimate concept (i.e. getting all worked up over something that would never happen were you to use your brain before a burglar would want to come in to your house).

Your question is wrong on so many levels simply because it is in your head and hasn't happened yet, according to your theoretical stance.

Burglars come in to someone's house to burgle... not murder.

Burglars, usually have some kind of familiarity with the house, the occupants of the house, or both. (i.e. they know about you or someone living with you, they know you or someone living with you, or they have access to your house, or know someone who does (workers, service people, etc.)

Burglars don't even bother to burgle a home unless they think they can get away with it, and a] they are confident to do it alone, or b] they have an inside accomplice; usually b].

Applying a bit of intelligence on your part can remove the risk factor to almost nil.

If you live in a hive of criminal activity, then use your brain and move, so you don't have to live with the mental images and movies of this scenario were it to happen.

And finally, I have found that people who obsess about something usually are the cause of it coming about.

Stop watching violent movies and pump some more sense into your head.

[NCFC]

A few years ago my wife returned home from shopping with the family and drawing up outside the house saw a guy inside. She told the other family members to stay in the car and went to the neighbour's house to say we had an intruder. The neighbour grabbed his gun and came to the front of our gate.

The intruder having seen our car pull up, ran upstairs, into the bathroom, and exited out through the hole he had made in the roof. He was clambering over the roof just as our neighbour arrived. Our neighbour shot the guy on the roof injuring him. The police were called and arrested the burglar. Nothing happened to the neighbour.

[sgtsabai]

c-O-c you don't have a clue as to the real world. NCFC you have a good neighbor.

[VocalNeal]

If a burglar comes into my house and I catch him, can I kill him legally?

Good question? Can you? Or should that be could you?

Shoot the guy, then the ceiling. If you have to ask.....

[mmh8]

funny you mention this an obscure article of the law allows people to murder anyone within the property that belongs to them. So just be careful who you go visiting

[drx13]

If a burglar comes into my house and I catch him, can I kill him legally?

Sounds like a bi-polar, paranoid exacerbation of an illegitimate concept (i.e. getting all worked up over something that would never happen were you to use your brain before a burglar would want to come in to your house).

Your question is wrong on so many levels simply because it is in your head and hasn't happened yet, according to your theoretical stance.

Burglars come in to someone's house to burgle... not murder.

Burglars, usually have some kind of familiarity with the house, the occupants of the house, or both. (i.e. they know about you or someone living with you, they know you or someone living with you, or they have access to your house, or know someone who does (workers, service people, etc.)

Burglars don't even bother to burgle a home unless they think they can get away with it, and a] they are confident to do it alone, or b] they have an inside accomplice; usually b].

Applying a bit of intelligence on your part can remove the risk factor to almost nil.

If you live in a hive of criminal activity, then use your brain and move, so you don't have to live with the mental images and movies of this scenario were it to happen.

And finally, I have found that people who obsess about something usually are the cause of it coming about.

Stop watching violent movies and pump some more sense into your head.

But even the "well intentioned" burglars, may kill you, as often reported.

If I had a gun I would shoot anyone entering my place at night without my permission, and inflict GBH if no gun.

Then I'd stage the scene.