but this is a jezebel comment section why would you even concern yourself with the facts of the case? Make a split second decision based on your emotions. That should be good enough.

Well it makes sense with stand your ground laws because they are specifically designed to permit not retreating. General self defense claims can arguably all ready cover what she did.

No, we can condone murder. We as a society condone murder all the time, based on circumstances. In this case, a child attempted numerous times to flee her attacker and was returned to his care. She notified responsible adults of her abuse and was not provided aid. She did all the supposedly reasonable things that we…

Yeah. If she had really concentrated she could have used her Jedi powers to get the gun to fly out of his hands into hers and that way it would have been self defence. Clearly she didn’t think this through/ use her telekinesis abilities to full effect.

Yeah I mean she still deserves to be prosecuted but hopefully not for first degree murder and not as an adult. She very likely was protecting her mother as domestic violence is likely to escalate and become lethal. She probably saw the writing on the wall and took action when she felt safest. However we live in a…

There’s actually some really interesting and gruesome feminist legal theory about self-defense laws. Basically it boils down to: self defense laws are made for someone defending themselves in a fight to the death that’s moving quickly and happening right at the time of the death or injury. Women’s violence, and the…

This is a classic case of what is often known as battered wife syndrome (although the shooter is in this case the daughter). An abuser is killed while vulnerable because his victims feel there is no other escape - they can’t run because he’ll find them, they can’t go to the authorities because they won’t keep him in…

This is part of the central moral question with regards to women and the law.

The “pre-meditation” argument always strikes me as ludicrous in cases like this: self-defense (and that is what this is) that is not “pre-meditated” does not work with the abuser if larger and physically stronger.

I . . . theoretically agree. In principal, so long as you live in a social contract, you abrogate some of the rights you retain in the state of nature, first and foremost being the right of retribution and unlimited self-defense. You are supposed to cede your power to murder and kill, even in self-defense, to the…

I’d wager that part of the problem is that while abuse is alleged and very, very likely totally true, without a legal record of it, the legal system cannot treat it as true. If ever there was an argument for reporting abuse - or at least documenting it - this is the case. There are many examples of people who have…

People aren’t randomly generating racism tho. These are things they think and say and joke about in private. That it isn’t the only prevalent prejudice or bigotry online merely speaks to the actual depth of the problem, and just how shitty people are in general. I I have a ten and 9 year old and neither do that shit (…

But it’s all of a piece (is that the right phrase?). In this, or any culture, there is one way to be. And if you aren’t that thing, everything else is cause for mockery and derision. So it’s not really just being an asshole, it is bigotry, but bigotry can take many forms. It’s a many headed hydra. I mean think about…

I’m just gonna say in response to the first letter that I kind of just wish that letter wasn’t taken for this column. No disrespect to anyone involved mind you.

I have said for many years, a personal story is superior to the ones where you have to battle the ultimate evil to save the galaxy. Those can be fun, but they are rarely as poignant.

I would love to see an article like that. I mean, I’ve got Hawke in my avatar and all.

DA2's story felt a lot more intimate. That’s not to say the others weren’t good, Inquisition was badass and I loved it a lot. But DA2 had a far more humanised angle, you weren’t the chosen one destined to save the world from the Blight or Elder One, you were just a guy trying to make his/her way in life with their…