Being charged with a crime is a serious matter. You could be facing jail time, fines, and any number of other penalties. If you are involved in a criminal lawsuit, there are three common affirmative defense strategies that may be able to help you in your case.  Certain ones, such as self-defense, are pretty clear-cut if that is truly the case. Other than self-defense, you can plead insanity or entrapment. 

Self-defense.

Self-defense is pretty clear-cut when it comes to what you were doing.  If someone attacks you and you go after them, this is self-defense.  Some people confuse this self-defense as assisting someone else and going after the person that may have hurt your friend or family member.  This is not self-defense because you on your own will went after the individual; they didn't attack you.  The entire definition of self-defense means you did something to defend your body based on the fact that you were attacked by the assailant and had no other option than to fight to protect yourself.

Insanity.

The second defense strategy is saying you are insane and that you essentially have a mental disorder that caused you to act in the way you did, causing your criminal charges.  This would have to be determined by a medical professional and should not be used lightly because this could cause damage to you in several ways.  By utilizing this defense, this could limit your ability to gain employment in the future among other things.

Entrapment.

Entrapment essentially means a law officer or government official provoked or created a scenario where a citizen does something they typically would not do because they were directed to do so. These cases are typically difficult to prove; however, if you have a witnesses or something is on camera, it can be a lot easier. The point is this is something that would need a lot of proof, as police officers are the law and they shouldn't be utilizing other citizens to get involved with what they should be handling.

In a criminal situation, you need to understand your rights as a citizen and individual and have your case clearly assessed correctly so you can understand how you are going to deal with questions from the judge. Make sure to go over your options with a licensed attorney to come up with a plan of attack that is going to work for you.

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