No DefenseNo JusticeFor Trayvon Martin

No DefenseNo JusticeFor Trayvon Martin During a break in the NBA All-Star game, 17 year old Trayvon Martin walked to a store to buy Skittles. He never made it home. He died on the sidewalk, less than a 100 feet from the house, the candy still in his pocket. He was shot and killed by the captain of the community watch who failed to follow an order from the police not to intercede. The reason? Self-defense. "Blame the victim" is insidiously redefining the claim (not the plea!) of self-defense. Self-defense has become a ready excuse for loose cannons with a hero complex, who commit a crime and say: I was left with no choice except to act. Their claim twists the idea of "threat" to contend the victim brought the cause of action on his self. In this new moral equation, it is the fault of Trayvon Martin, eager to do an errand, excited about spending a weekend with his father--found with no weapon. The implausibility that a beautiful young man a 100 feet from home would suddenly turn aggressor and cut of any avenue of escape (being cut off is an important element in a legal claim of self-defense; it prevents what has happened in FL, self defense becoming a subjective justification for racial vigilantism)--is actually being accepted by the police. But there is no excuse for blaming an unarmed kid shot in daylight for his own death--or for the police not making an arrest.