Legal Question in Criminal Law in Pennsylvania

Castle Law

I would like to know if PA has the ''stand your ground'' castle law. It makes no sense to have to retreat in your own home and take the chance that the bad guy is weilding a weapon while you ask him/her to leave! By the time you do that you may very well be dead. If someone breaks into your home they are there for no good reason in the first place, and would be very likely to do you harm also. Please explain to me the facts of the PA state castle law.


Asked on 12/21/07, 7:26 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
John Gibson John W. Gibson, Esquire

Re: Castle Law

There is no hard and fast rule on this. The statute provides in part that:

"...the actor is not obliged to retreat from his dwelling or place of work, unless he was the initial aggressor ...."

However, the chance of being prosecuted for shooting a home invader has never been real high.

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Answered on 12/26/07, 10:30 am


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