Legal culture and self-defense laws: An examination of the empirical effects of legal culture on the use of self-defense violence

This study will explore the topic of legal culture regarding self-defense permissibility and its effect on violence. Legal cultures regarding self-defense naturally typologize across the states into retreat, castle, and true man doctrines. The study will feature a multivariate model wherein legal culture will be analyzed to discern its effect on level of violence. Publicly available data available from the U. S. Census and supplemental homicide data sets will thus enable a nationwide comparison of the legal culture-self defense use relationship.