Duress Defense
- Law & Governance -
Criminal Law Dictionary
Definition
A criminal-law concept describing conduct, procedure, or legal consequence defined by governing offense or rule elements. It applies only when the legally specified conditions for its use or enforcement are satisfied. It does not apply where required elements or conditions are absent. It materially affects charging, adjudication, detention, or sanction decisions in practice.
Duress Defense
Defense, Security & Public Safety Dictionary
Definition
A defense asserting that the defendant committed the charged act because they were subjected to a present, imminent, and unlawful threat of death or serious bodily harm by another person such that a reasonable person in the defendant's position would have acted similarly and no reasonable avenue of escape existed; if established, duress may excuse criminal liability subject to statutory and jurisd