The Illustrated Guide to Criminal Law
Chapter 13: I Had No Choice!
Necessity pg 7: Sincerity
Ordinarily, destroying someone’s home like that is a serious crime. But when Harry the Hero did it, it wasn’t a crime at all. It was justified by necessity.
Harry striking a heroic pose, explaining to Dylan and the neighbor girl.
HARRY
And I’ll tell you why:
First, there was an immediate danger…
DYLAN
Actually, we now know there wasn’t. The wind was blowing away from my house!
Harry smugly explaining
HARRY
That doesn’t matter.
I believed that there was an immediate danger. That’s all that matters.
Dylan isn’t buying it
DYLAN
But your belief was unreasonable. The wind was blowing really hard.
HARRY
It doesn’t matter if my belief was unreasonable. All that matters is that it was sincere.