PRINTER'S NO. 198
No. 196 Session of 1977
INTRODUCED BY HILL, HOWARD, SCANLON, STAUFFER AND SWEENEY,
FEBRUARY 7, 1977
REFERRED TO JUDICIARY, FEBRUARY 7, 1977
AN ACT
1 Amending Title 18 (Crimes and Offenses) of the Pennsylvania
2 Consolidated Statutes, concerning the use of force in self-
3 protection.
4 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
5 hereby enacts as follows:
6 Section 1. Paragraph (2) of subsection (b) of section 505 of
7 Title 18, act of November 25, 1970 (P.L.707, No.230), known as
8 the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, is amended to read:
9 § 505. Use of force in self-protection.
10 * * *
11 (b) Limitations on justifying necessity for use of force.--
12 * * *
13 (2) The use of deadly force is not justifiable under
14 this section unless the actor believes that such force is
15 necessary to protect himself against death, serious bodily
16 injury, kidnapping or sexual intercourse compelled by force
17 or threat; nor is it justifiable if:
18 (i) the actor, with the intent of causing death or
1 serious bodily injury, provoked the use of force against
2 himself in the same encounter; or
3 (ii) the actor knows that he can avoid the necessity
4 of using such force with complete safety by retreating or
5 by surrendering possession of a thing to a person
6 asserting a claim of right thereto or by complying with a
7 demand that he abstain from any action which he has no
8 duty to take, except that:
9 (A) the actor is not obliged to retreat from his
10 dwelling or place of work, unless he was the initial
11 aggressor or is assailed in his place of work by
12 another person whose place of work the actor knows it
13 to be or the dwelling is also the dwelling of the
14 assailant; and
15 (B) a public officer justified in using force in
16 the performance of his duties or a person justified
17 in using force in his assistance or a person
18 justified in using force in making an arrest or
19 preventing an escape is not obliged to desist from
20 efforts to perform such duty, effect such arrest or
21 prevent such escape because of resistance or
22 threatened resistance by or on behalf of the person
23 against whom such action is directed.
24 Section 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
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