Addie Rolnick is an associate professor of law at the William S. Boyd School of Law.On March 15, Professor Rolnick penned a guest column in the Las Vegas Sun titled “Expansions to Nevada’s self-defense law are unnecessary and dangerous.”
In the article, Professor Rolnick discusses Nevada’s current “stand your ground” law and examines the implications of the legislature’s consideration of a new bill that would expand Nevada’s self-defense law to make it available in more circumstances and easier to prove.
Professor Rolnick says, “Expanding self-defense law is both unnecessary and dangerous. …There is also no reason to change the process. Prosecutors have discretion, so if the self-defense claim seems solid, the prosecutor may choose not to file charges at all. Changing the presumption would take these cases away from a jury and would tie a prosecutor’s hands, leaving little or no safeguard to prevent people from killing out of vengeance or unreasonable fear.”
Professor Rolnick's scholarship focuses on bridging gaps between civil rights, Critical Race Theory, federal Indian law, and indigenous rights.
