Attachment 16: NJ Title Code of Criminal Justice Section - Use of Force

15 June 2026

SIR No. 69M215-25-R-00012

Attachment 16
New Jersey Revised Statutes

Title 2C – THE NEW JERSEY CODE OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE

Section 2C:3-4 to 2C:3-9
Universal Citation: NJ Rev Stat 2C: 3-4 (2025)
2C:3-4 Use of force in self-protection.
2C:3-4. Use of Force in Self-Protection.
a. Use of force is justifiable for protection of the person. Subject to the provisions of this section and of section 2C:3-9, the use of force upon or toward another person is justifiable when the actor reasonably believes that such force is immediately necessary for the purpose of protecting himself against the use of unlawful force by such other person on the present occasion.
b.

Limitations on justifying necessity for use of force.

(1)

The use of force is not justifiable under this section:

(a)
To resist an arrest which the actor knows is being made by a peace officer in the performance of his duties, although the arrest is unlawful, unless the peace officer employs unlawful force to effect such arrest; 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; (ii)
The actor has been unlawfully dispossessed of the property and is making a reentry or recaption justified by section 2C:3-6; or
(iii) The actor reasonably believes that such force is necessary to protect himself against death or serious bodily harm.
(2)
The use of deadly force is not justifiable under this section unless the actor reasonably believes that such force is necessary to protect himself against death or serious bodily harm; nor is it justifiable if:
(a)
The actor, with the purpose of causing death or serious bodily harm, 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, unless he was the initial aggressor; and
(ii)