The Illustrated Guide to Criminal Law
Chapter 13: I Had No Choice!
Necessity pg 3: Justification Defenses
But if you had no choice, then it’s a “justification” defense.
Average Joe explaining
JOE
But does anyone ever really have no other option?
Joe shoving his hands in his pockets defiantly
JOE
I mean, you can always choose to do nothing, right?
Yes, but when we say you had no choice, we really mean that you didn’t have a socially-acceptable alternative.
“Not allowed” circle with a line through it, over Joe shoving his hands in his pockets. (Is there a name for that symbol? It keeps popping up.)
In other words, doing nothing would have been wrong.
