While Florida’s controversial “Stand Your Ground” law was never actually used by George Zimmerman’s defense or explicitly mentioned by President Obama during his appearance on NBC’s “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” it seems the statute is still to blame for Zimmerman’s acquittal in the death of teenager Trayvon Martin.
“But what I think all of us agree to is, is that we should have a criminal justice system that’s fair, that’s just,” Obama told Leno.
He then added that while many “young African-American men disproportionately have involvement in criminal activities and violence,” due to issues in their communities, poverty and a failing education system, those situations aren’t as responsible for high crime rates as the law.
“And that’s no excuse, but what we also believe in is, is that people—everybody—should be treated fairly and the system should work for everyone,” he said.
This wasn’t the first time the President cited the controversial law as the reason for Zimmerman’s not guilty verdict or implied that “Stand Your Ground” laws were unfair.
“I think it would be useful for us to examine some state and local laws to see if it, if they are designed in such a way that they may encourage the kinds of altercations and confrontations and tragedies that we saw in the Florida case, rather than defuse potential altercations,” Obama said during a White House press conference in July.
Regardless of the president’s desire to re-examine the laws, it’s really a state issue and one that’s not isolated to Florida. Twenty-three other states have the same or similar self-defense law in the books – including Illinois, where Obama actually worked to strengthen the law as a state senator. Moreover, a recent Quinnipiac University poll found that a majority of Americans actually support the concept of “Stand Your Ground” laws.
