What Is The Criminal Defense of Necessity?

Being accused of a crime is not something to take lightly. Whether a police officer has come to arrest you for certain charges or someone says they believe you committed a crime and will try to prove it, you should take both of these very seriously. The sooner you know you may be facing criminal charges, the sooner you are able to get ahead of them. There is a range of defenses to criminal charges but one that your lawyer may choose to use is known as the defense of “necessity.” This means that if you did commit the alleged crime, you did so because you believed you had no other choice. 

What is required to successfully use this as a defense? 

This may seem like an obvious choice for a defense if someone is accused of a crime, then. There are probably many reasons a person may have needed to commit a crime, right? As a lawyer, like a criminal defense lawyer from a law firm like The Law Firm of Frederick J. Brynn, P.C. knows, to successfully use the defense of necessity, there must be certain truths to the crime. 

• This was the only option. Because of the specific situation that the defendant was in, there was no other good, safe, or reasonable option except to commit this crime. 
• They avoided certain harm. They did not cause any more harm than the harm they were trying to avoid. 
• They were threatened. The defendant believed that there was a threat and this was the best option to avoiding that threat. 
• They were not the threat. The defendant was instigating or contributing to the original threat. 

If the defendant meets these requirements, it does not necessarily mean that they will be able to successfully get off their criminal charges and go free. It does mean that they can use this defense and a judge may be more understanding about why they committed such a crime.

Defending yourself against criminal charges is serious and attempting to do so without legal help can be complicated. Why try to do this on your own instead of working with a criminal defense lawyer who can help you determine what the best defense would be? If you are concerned about the criminal charges you are facing, do not wait any longer to speak with an attorney. Reach out to a local criminal defense lawyer today.