After London was rocked by four days of rioting, looting and fires, police have now charged the 1000th person for participation in the mayhem. The acting police chief is urging citizens to turn in anyone they believe to be associated with the rioting and not to, “…let them get away with it.” Can it ever be legal to loot?
Well, the short answer is surprisingly “Yes” but only under very limited circumstances. Most jurisdictions recognize the defense of “necessity” to a criminal charge; in this instance, looting is criminally considered theft. The basic premise of a necessity defense is that the accused had no choice but to break the law in order to protect himself and others from death or serious bodily harm.
So, if a looter took a baseball bat to save his life from being ending by a gang of rioters, necessity may be a plausible defense. On the other hand, if a looter takes a 50-inch plasma TV because he thinks he’ll die if he misses an episode of The Real Housewives… not so much.
The Texas Penal Code does recognize the defense of necessity if three conditions are met (see TPC §9.22):
1) you reasonably believe your conduct is immediately necessary to avoid imminent harm;
2) the urgency of avoiding the harm clearly outweighs the damage caused by breaking the law; and
3) the actual law you broke doesn’t specifically exclude using the necessity defense.
Bottom line, unless you are stealing a shotgun to protect your family from the Zombie Apocalypse (link 1) (link 2), better not go looting.
For more on this, see original article on Necessity here: http://criminallawnewsnow.com/2011/08/is-it-ever-legal-to-loot/
Article on arrests in the London riots here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44172456
For more information on Texas law contact The Wright Firm, L.L.P. at 972-353-4600 or visit our website at www.thewrightlawyers.com .
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