Citizens Arrest
PENAL CODE - PEN
PART 2. OF CRIMINAL PROCEDURE [681 - 1620] (Part 2 enacted 1872)
TITLE 3. ADDITIONAL PROVISIONS REGARDING CRIMINAL PROCEDURE [777 - 883]
(Heading of Title 3 amended by Stats. 1951, Ch. 1674)
CHAPTER 5. Arrest, by Whom and How Made [833 - 851.93] (Chapter 5 enacted 1872)
A private person may arrest another:
- For a public offense committed or attempted in his presence.
- When the person arrested has committed a felony, although not in his presence.
- When a felony has been in fact committed, and he has reasonable cause for believing the person arrested to have committed it.
Someone is beating up your grandma. You can "arrest" that person using reasonable means of force.
Reasonable use of force is subjective to your county and state.
Castle Doctrine: Home Defense
For a full breakdown of California's castle law, see: https://www.esilverlaw.com/faqs/castle-law-in-california/
"Reasonable" use of force can be applied to defending yourself, your domicile, and your family from any unauthorized party accessing your property or threatening persons inside.
General Self Defense
PENAL CODE - PEN
PART 1. OF CRIMES AND PUNISHMENTS [25 - 680.4] (Part 1 enacted 1872)
TITLE 8. OF CRIMES AGAINST THE PERSON [187 - 248] (Title 8 enacted 1872)
CHAPTER 1. Homicide [187 - 199] (Chapter 1 enacted 1872)
Homicide is also justifiable when committed by any person in any of the following cases:
- When resisting any attempt to murder any person, or to commit a felony, or to do some great bodily injury upon any person.
- When committed in defense of habitation, property, or person, against one who manifestly intends or endeavors, by violence or surprise, to commit a felony, or against one who manifestly intends and endeavors, in a violent, riotous, or tumultuous manner, to enter the habitation of another for the purpose of offering violence to any person therein.
- When committed in the lawful defense of such person, or of a spouse, parent, child, master, mistress, or servant of such person, when there is reasonable ground to apprehend a design to commit a felony or to do some great bodily injury, and imminent danger of such design being accomplished; but such person, or the person in whose behalf the defense was made, if he or she was the assailant or engaged in mutual combat, must really and in good faith have endeavored to decline any further struggle before the homicide was committed.
- When necessarily committed in attempting, by lawful ways and means, to apprehend any person for any felony committed, or in lawfully suppressing any riot, or in lawfully keeping and preserving the peace.
If in fear for your life or the lives of others within your home, you may be able to detain or use lethal force against an intruder displaying severe intent to harm, maim, or kill any residents of the domicile.
Source: California Code, Penal Code - PEN § 197. Current as of January 01, 2025 | Updated by FindLaw Staff
You are able to use lethal force against someone who is currently committing a violent felony in your presence.
The law gives people options to defend themselves, their family, and others in serious situations — but those options come with consequences if misused. Force is judged after the fact, not in the moment, so knowing the line matters. Read the code, understand the risk, and don't confuse confidence with legality.
— Founder