Bill Text: HI HB1717 | 2024 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating To Use Of Force In Self-protection.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 5-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2024-01-24 - Referred to JHA, referral sheet 1 [HB1717 Detail]
Download: Hawaii-2024-HB1717-Introduced.html
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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
H.B. NO. |
1717 |
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THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2024 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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A BILL FOR AN ACT
relating TO USE OF FORCE IN SELF-PROTECTION.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
SECTION 1. The legislature finds that there has been an alarming increase in violent crimes in Hawaii in the past year. According to data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the rate of violent crime offenses rose by nearly ten per cent between 2014 and 2022. Some districts have been hit significantly harder than others, such as Leeward Oahu, where violence with weapon offenses jumped forty-two per cent from the previous year.
The legislature finds that due to rampant violent crimes in Hawaii currently, it is more imperative than ever to grant residents the right to defend themselves in situations of grave danger, even using deadly force when necessary.
The purpose of this Act is to clarify when the use of deadly force is not justified.
SECTION 2. Section 703-304, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:
"§703-304 Use of force in
self-protection. (1) Subject to the provisions of this section and
of section 703-308, the use of force upon or toward another person is justifiable
when the actor believes that such force is immediately necessary for the
purpose of protecting [himself] oneself against the use of
unlawful force by the other person on the present occasion.
(2)
The use of deadly force is justifiable under this section if the actor
believes that deadly force is necessary to protect [himself] oneself
against death, serious bodily injury, kidnapping, rape, or forcible sodomy.
(3)
Except as otherwise provided in subsections (4) and (5) of this section,
a person employing protective force may estimate the necessity thereof under
the circumstances as [he] the person believes them to be when the
force is used without retreating, surrendering possession, doing any other act
which he has no legal duty to do, or abstaining from any lawful action.
(4) The use of force is not justifiable under this section:
(a) To resist an arrest which the actor knows is being made by a law enforcement officer, although the arrest is unlawful; or
(b) To resist force
used by the occupier or possessor of property or by another person on [his]
the person's behalf, where the actor knows that the person using the
force is doing so under a claim of right to protect the property, except that
this limitation shall not apply if:
(i) The actor is a
public officer acting in the performance of [his] the officer's duties
or a person lawfully assisting him therein or a person making or assisting in a
lawful arrest; or
(ii) The actor believes
that such force is necessary to protect [himself] oneself against
death or serious bodily injury.
(5)
The use of deadly force is not justifiable under this section if[:
(a) The] the
actor, with the intent of causing death or serious bodily injury, provoked the
use of force against [himself] oneself in the same encounter[;
or
(b) The actor knows
that he can avoid the necessity of using such force with complete safety by
retreating or by surrendering possession of a thing to a person asserting a
claim of right thereto or by complying with a demand that he abstain from any
action which he has no duty to take, except that:
(i) The
actor is not obliged to retreat from his dwelling or place of work, unless he
was the initial aggressor or is assailed in his place of work by another person
whose place of work the actor knows it to be; and
(ii)].
(6) A public officer justified in using force in
the performance of [his] the officer's duties, or a person
justified in using force in [his] the person's assistance or a
person justified in using force in making an arrest or preventing an escape, is
not obliged to desist from efforts to perform [his] the person's
duty, effect the arrest, or prevent the escape because of resistance or
threatened resistance by or on behalf of the person against whom the action is
directed.
[(6)](7) The justification afforded by this section
extends to the use of confinement as protective force only if the actor takes
all reasonable measures to terminate the confinement as soon as [he] the
actor knows that [he] the actor safely can, unless the person
confined has been arrested on a charge of crime."
SECTION 3. This Act does not affect rights and duties that matured, penalties that were incurred, and proceedings that were begun before its effective date.
SECTION 4. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.
SECTION 5. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
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INTRODUCED BY: |
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Report Title:
Minority Caucus Package; Self-Protection; Use of Force
Description:
Clarifies when the use of deadly force is not justified.
The summary description
of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is
not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.
