Florida's Stand Your Ground Regime: Legislative Direction, Prosecutorial Discretion, Public Pressures, and the Legitimization of the Criminal Justice System

Authors

Mary Elizabeth Castillo

Document Type

Note

Abstract

This note seeks to examine the tripartite relationship between legislative delegation, prosecutorial discretion, and public pressures in the context of Florida's "Stand Your Ground" regime. In the context of high profile criminal cases, a prosecutor faces significant public and political pressures that may influence her exercise of discretion in that case. Ultimately, Castillo argues that when a prosecutor succumbs to these pressures, it undermines her expertise, experience and exercise of discretion, and undercuts the legitimacy of the criminal justice system as a whole.

Recommended Citation

Mary Elizabeth Castillo, Florida's Stand Your Ground Regime: Legislative Direction, Prosecutorial Discretion, Public Pressures, and the Legitimization of the Criminal Justice System, 42 J. Legis. 64 (2016).
Available at: https://scholarship.law.nd.edu/jleg/vol42/iss1/4