PRINTER'S NO. 1788
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
SENATE BILL
No.
1196
Session of
2020
INTRODUCED BY HAYWOOD, SANTARSIERO, FONTANA, FARNESE, HUGHES,
STREET, KEARNEY AND BOSCOLA, JUNE 22, 2020
REFERRED TO JUDICIARY, JUNE 22, 2020
AN ACT
Amending Title 18 (Crimes and Offenses) of the Pennsylvania
Consolidated Statutes, in general principles of
justification, further providing for use of force in law
enforcement.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. Section 508(a) of Title 18 of the Pennsylvania
Consolidated Statutes is amended to read:
ยง 508. Use of force in law enforcement.
(a) Peace officer's use of force in making arrest.--
[(1)] A peace officer, or any person whom he has summoned
or directed to assist him, need not retreat or desist from
efforts to make a lawful arrest because of resistance or
threatened resistance to the arrest. He is justified in the
use of [any] reasonable force which he believes to be
necessary to effect the arrest and of [any] reasonable force
which he believes to be necessary to defend himself or
another from bodily harm while making the arrest. However, he
is justified in using deadly force only when he reasonably
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