PRINTER'S NO. 1594
No. 1252 Session of 1998
INTRODUCED BY AFFLERBACH, WAGNER, STOUT, BELL, SLOCUM, WOZNIAK
AND RHOADES, JANUARY 26, 1998
REFERRED TO JUDICIARY, JANUARY 26, 1998
AN ACT
1 Amending Title 18 (Crimes and Offenses) of the Pennsylvania
2 Consolidated Statutes, providing for use of force in
3 protection of dwelling.
4 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
5 hereby enacts as follows:
6 Section 1. Title 18 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated
7 Statutes is amended by adding a section to read:
8 § 511. Use of force in protection of dwelling.
9 (a) Use of force in protection of residents of dwelling and
10 property.--The use of force upon or toward a person is
11 justifiable when the actor believes that such force is necessary
12 to protect the residents of a dwelling from a person who
13 forcibly entered the dwelling or is attempting to forcibly enter
14 the dwelling. The use of force upon or toward a person is
15 justifiable on the property on which the dwelling is situated
16 when the actor believes that such force is necessary to protect
17 the residents of the dwelling from a person who forcibly entered
18 the dwelling or is attempting to forcibly enter the dwelling.
1 (b) Limitations on justifying necessity for use of force.--
2 The use of force is not justifiable under this section:
3 (1) to resist an arrest which the actor knows is being
4 made by a peace officer, although the arrest is unlawful; or
5 (2) to resist force used by the occupier or possessor of
6 property or by another person on his behalf, where the actor
7 knows that the person using the force is doing so under right
8 to protect the property, except that this limitation shall
9 not apply if:
10 (i) the actor is a public officer acting in the
11 performance of his duties or a person lawfully assisting
12 him therein or a person making or assisting in a lawful
13 arrest;
14 (ii) the actor has been unlawfully dispossessed of
15 the property and is making a reentry or recaption
16 justified under section 507 (relating to the use of force
17 for the protection of property); or
18 (iii) the actor believes that the force is necessary
19 to protect himself against death or serious bodily
20 injury.
21 Section 2. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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