Hawaii Castle Doctrine
The laws governing the legal use, storage, carrying and transporting of firearms are constantly changing. Below are the applicable laws in the State of Hawaii as of 8/8/2013. The below information is designed to be a guide and not the final word. If you have specific questions, please refer to Hawaii legislation at capitol.hawaii.gov. If you have any specific questions concerning Castle Doctrine/Self-Defense laws in any state, American Firearms Training recommends contacting an attorney.
The Castle Doctrine (also known as Castle Law, Defense of Habitat Law) are state legal defense laws that gives citizens in their homes/abode, and in some states, cars or workplaces the right to protect themselves, other people, and their property by force. In some instances this includes deadly force without the consequences of legal or possibly civil responsibility and criminal persecution. A Castle Doctrine also states that a person has no “duty of retreat” (avoid the conflict at all cost) when one’s home/abode is under attack.
The State of Hawaii does have a Castle Law variation. This and other defense of person and property laws can be viewed below.
§703-300 Definitions relating to justification.
In this chapter, unless a different meaning is plainly required:
"Believes" means reasonably believes.
"Deadly force" means force which the actor uses with the intent of causing or which the actor knows to create a substantial risk of causing death or serious bodily harm. Intentionally firing a firearm in the direction of another person or in the direction which another person is believed to be constitutes deadly force. A threat to cause death or serious bodily injury, by the production of a weapon or otherwise, so long as the actor's intent is limited to creating an apprehension that the actor will use deadly force if necessary, does not constitute deadly force.
"Dwelling" means any building or structure, though movable or temporary, or a portion thereof, which is for the time being a home or place of lodging.
"Force" means any bodily impact, restraint, or confinement, or the threat thereof.
"Unlawful force" means force which is employed without the consent of the person against whom it is directed and the employment of which constitutes an offense or would constitute an offense except for a defense not amounting to a justification to use the force. Assent constitutes consent, within the meaning of this section, whether or not it otherwise is legally effective, except assent to the infliction of death or serious or substantial bodily injury.
§703-301 Justification a defense; civil remedies unaffected.
(1) In any prosecution for an offense, justification, as defined in sections 703-302 through 703-309, is a defense.
(2) The fact that conduct is justifiable under this chapter does not abolish or impair any remedy for such conduct which is available in any civil action.
§703-302 Choice of evils.
(1) Conduct which the actor believes to be necessary to avoid an imminent harm or evil to the actor or to another is justifiable provided that:
(a) The harm or evil sought to be avoided by such conduct is greater than that sought to be prevented by the law defining the offense charged; and
(b) Neither the Code nor other law defining the offense provides exceptions or defenses dealing with the specific situation involved; and
(c) A legislative purpose to exclude the justification claimed does not otherwise plainly appear.
(2) When the actor was reckless or negligent in bringing about the situation requiring a choice of harms or evils or in appraising the necessity for the actor's conduct, the justification afforded by this section is unavailable in a prosecution for any offense for which recklessness or negligence, as the case may be, suffices to establish culpability.
(3) In a prosecution for escape under section 710-1020 or 710-1021, the defense available under this section is limited to an affirmative defense consisting of the following elements:
(a) The actor receives a threat, express or implied, of death, substantial bodily injury, or forcible sexual attack;
(b) Complaint to the proper prison authorities is either impossible under the circumstances or there exists a history of futile complaints;
(c) Under the circumstances there is no time or opportunity to resort to the courts;
(d) No force or violence is used against prison personnel or other innocent persons; and
(e) The actor promptly reports to the proper authorities when the actor has attained a position of safety from the immediate threat.
§703-303 Execution of public duty.
(1) Except as provided in subsection (2), conduct is justifiable when it is required or authorized by:
(a) The law defining the duties or functions of a public officer or the assistance to be rendered to a public officer in the performance of the public officer's duties; or
(b) The law governing the execution of legal process; or
(c) The judgment or order of a competent court or tribunal;
(d) The law governing the armed services or the lawful conduct of war; or
(e) Any other provision of law imposing a public duty.
(2) The other sections of this chapter apply to:
(a) The use of force upon or toward the person of another for any of the purposes dealt with in those sections; and
(b) The use of deadly force for any purpose, unless the use of deadly force is otherwise expressly authorized by law or occurs in the lawful conduct of war.
(3) The justification afforded by subsection (1) applies:
(a) When the actor believes the actor's conduct to be required or authorized by the judgment or direction of a competent court or tribunal or in the lawful execution of legal process, notwithstanding lack of jurisdiction of the court or defect in the legal process; and
(b) When the actor believes the actor's conduct to be required or authorized to assist a public officer in the performance of the officer's duties, notwithstanding that the officer exceeded the officer's legal authority
§703-304 Use of force in self-protection.
(1) Subject to the provisions of this section and of section 703-308, the use of force upon or toward another person is justifiable when the actor believes that such force is immediately necessary for the purpose of protecting himself against the use of unlawful force by the other person on the present occasion.
(2) The use of deadly force is justifiable under this section if the actor believes that deadly force is necessary to protect himself against death, serious bodily injury, kidnapping, rape, or forcible sodomy.
(3) Except as otherwise provided in subsections (4) and (5) of this section, a person employing protective force may estimate the necessity thereof under the circumstances as he believes them to be when the force is used without retreating, surrendering possession, doing any other act which he has no legal duty to do, or abstaining from any lawful action.
(4) The use of force is not justifiable under this section:
(a) To resist an arrest which the actor knows is being made by a law enforcement officer, although the arrest is unlawful; or
(b) To resist force used by the occupier or possessor of property or by another person on his behalf, where the actor knows that the person using the force is doing so under a claim of right to protect the property, except that this limitation shall not apply if:
(i) The actor is a public officer acting in the performance of his duties or a person lawfully assisting him therein or a person making or assisting in a lawful arrest; or
(ii) The actor believes that such force is necessary to protect himself against death or serious bodily injury.
(5) The use of deadly force is not justifiable under this section if:
(a) The actor, with the intent of causing death or serious bodily injury, provoked the use of force against himself in the same encounter; or
(b) The actor knows that he can avoid the necessity of using such force with complete safety by retreating or by surrendering possession of a thing to a person asserting a claim of right thereto or by complying with a demand that he abstain from any action which he has no duty to take, except that:
(i) The actor is not obliged to retreat from his dwelling or place of work, unless he was the initial aggressor or is assailed in his place of work by another person whose place of work the actor knows it to be; and
(ii) A public officer justified in using force in the performance of his duties, or a person justified in using force in his assistance or a person justified in using force in making an arrest or preventing an escape, is not obliged to desist from efforts to perform his duty, effect the arrest, or prevent the escape because of resistance or threatened resistance by or on behalf of the person against whom the action is directed.
(6) The justification afforded by this section extends to the use of confinement as protective force only if the actor takes all reasonable measures to terminate the confinement as soon as he knows that he safely can, unless the person confined has been arrested on a charge of crime.
§703-305 Use of force for the protection of other persons.
(1) Subject to the provisions of this section and of section 703-310, the use of force upon or toward the person of another is justifiable to protect a third person when:
(a) Under the circumstances as the actor believes them to be, the person whom the actor seeks to protect would be justified in using such protective force; and
(b) The actor believes that the actor's intervention is necessary for the protection of the other person.
(2) Notwithstanding subsection (1):
(a) When the actor would be obliged under section 703-304 to retreat, to surrender the possession of a thing, or to comply with a demand before using force in self- protection, the actor is not obliged to do so before using force for the protection of another person, unless the actor knows that the actor can thereby secure the complete safety of such other person; and
(b) When the person whom the actor seeks to protect would be obliged under section 703-304 to retreat, to surrender the possession of a thing or to comply with a demand if the person knew that the person could obtain complete safety by so doing, the actor is obliged to try to cause the person to do so before using force in the person's protection if the actor knows that the actor can obtain the other's complete safety in that way; and
(c) Neither the actor nor the person whom the actor seeks to protect is obliged to retreat when in the other's dwelling or place of work to any greater extent than in the actor's or the person's own.
§703-306 Use of force for the protection of property.
(1) The use of force upon or toward the person of another is justifiable when the actor believes that such force is immediately necessary:
(a) To prevent the commission of criminal trespass or burglary in a building or upon real property in the actor's possession or in the possession of another person for whose protection the actor acts; or
(b) To prevent unlawful entry upon real property in the actor's possession or in the possession of another person for whose protection the actor acts; or
(c) To prevent theft, criminal mischief, or any trespassory taking of tangible, movable property in the actor's possession or in the possession of another person for whose protection the actor acts.
(2) The actor may in the circumstances specified in subsection (1) use such force as the actor believes is necessary to protect the threatened property, provided that the actor first requests the person against whom force is used to desist from the person's interference with the property, unless the actor believes that:
(a) Such a request would be useless; or
(b) It would be dangerous to the actor or another person to make the request; or
(c) Substantial harm would be done to the physical condition of the property which is sought to be protected before the request could effectively be made.
(3) The use of deadly force for the protection of property is justifiable only if:
(a) The person against whom the force is used is attempting to dispossess the actor of the actor's dwelling otherwise than under a claim of right to its possession; or
(b) The person against whom the deadly force is used is attempting to commit felonious property damage, burglary, robbery, or felonious theft and either:
(i) Has employed or threatened deadly force against or in the presence of the actor; or
(ii) The use of force other than deadly force to prevent the commission of the crime would expose the actor or another person in the actor's presence to substantial danger of serious bodily injury.
(4) The justification afforded by this section extends to the use of a device for the purpose of protecting property only if:
(a) The device is not designed to cause or known to create a substantial risk of causing death or serious bodily injury; and
(b) The use of the particular device to protect the property from entry or trespass is reasonable under the circumstances, as the defendant believes them to be; and
(c) The device is one customarily used for such a purpose or reasonable care is taken to make known to probable intruders the fact that it is used.
(5) The justification afforded by this section extends to the use of confinement as protective force only if the actor takes all reasonable measures to terminate the confinement as soon as the actor knows that the actor can do so with safety to the property, unless the person confined has been arrested on a charge of crime.
§703-308 Use of force to prevent suicide or the commission of a crime.
(1) The use of force upon or toward the person of another is justifiable when the actor believes that such force is immediately necessary to prevent the other person from committing suicide, inflicting serious bodily harm upon oneself, committing or consummating the commission of a crime involving or threatening bodily injury, damage to or loss of property, or breach of the peace, except that:
(a) Any limitations imposed by the other provisions of this chapter on the justifiable use of force in self- protection, for the protection of others, the protection of property, the effectuation of an arrest, or the prevention of an escape from custody shall apply notwithstanding the criminality of the conduct against which such force is used; and
(b) The use of deadly force is not in any event justifiable under this section unless:
(i) The actor believes that there is a substantial risk that the person whom the actor seeks to prevent from committing a crime will cause death or serious bodily injury to another unless the commission or the consummation of the crime is prevented and that the use of such force presents no substantial risk of injury to innocent persons; or
(ii) The actor believes that the use of such force is necessary to suppress a riot after the rioters have been ordered to disperse and warned, in any particular manner that the law may require, that deadly force will be used if they do not obey.
(2) The justification afforded by this section extends to the use of confinement as preventive force only if the actor takes all reasonable measures to terminate the confinement as soon as the actor knows that the actor safely can, unless the person confined has been arrested on a charge of crime.
§703-310 Provisions generally applicable to justification.
(1) When the actor believes that the use of force upon or toward the person of another is necessary for any of the purposes for which such belief would establish a justification under sections 703-303 to 703-309 but the actor is reckless or negligent in having such belief or in acquiring or failing to acquire any knowledge or belief which is material to the justifiability of the actor's use of force, the justification afforded by those sections is unavailable in a prosecution for an offense for which recklessness or negligence, as the case may be, suffices to establish culpability.
(2) When the actor is justified under sections 703-303 to 703-309 in using force upon or toward the person of another but the actor recklessly or negligently injures or creates a risk of injury to innocent persons, the justification afforded by those sections is unavailable in a prosecution for such recklessness or negligence toward innocent persons.