The number of killings treated as "justifiable homicide" has doubled in a decade following the introduction of controversial self-defence laws in the US.
The number of killings treated as "justifiable homicide" has doubled in a decade following the introduction of controversial self-defence laws in the US.
Rates trebled in Florida, where the black teenager Trayvon Martin was shot dead by a neighbourhood watch captain who police did not arrest after he claimed he acted in self-defence.
The case has shone a spotlight on rising levels of so-called "justifiable homicide," which stood at 326 across the US in 2010 compared to 176 in 2000.
Florida has one of the loosest laws, called Stand Your Ground, which allows people to kill if they believe their own life is at risk. While most states use the "Castle Doctrine," based on the expression "a man's home is his castle," meaning self-defence can only be used to justify a homicide if a person kills an intruder in their home or car, the Florida law applies anywhere.
Before the introduction of Stand Your Ground in 2005, rates of justifiable homicide in Florida stood at an average of 12 a year. That has risen to 33.
On Saturday, thousands of people protested in Sanford, where 17-year-old Trayvon was killed last month, to demand the arrest of his killer, George Zimmerman. They said Zimmerman was guilty of an unprovoked attack on the teenager, who he allegedly saw as suspicious because he was wearing a a hooded sweatshirt and was black.
The decision by Sanford police not to prosecute Zimmerman, 28, whose father is white and mother Hispanic, is being reviewed by prosecutors. Trayvon's older brother Jahvaris Fulton, a student at Florida International University, criticised the police for allowing Mr Zimmerman to take advantage of Stand Your Ground.
A number of politicians are calling for a review of Stand Your Ground and similar laws, which have been adopted by 26 states. The figures on justifiable homicide were compiled by the Wall Street Journal from FBI and Florida police data.
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