I had to look up 'deadly force'. I assumed it was killing someone, and it isn't:

"An amount of force that is likely to cause either serious bodily injury or death to another person."

Then I had to look up 'serious bodily injury':

"... means bodily injury which involves a substantial risk of death, extreme physical pain, protracted and obvious disfigurement, or protracted loss or impairment of the function of a bodily member, organ, or mental faculty."

This is a lot of crap. So what's wrong with 'extreme physical pain'? 'Deadly force' should be killing someone, period. Okay, so we won't do that. But causing pain and crippling should be allowed. Some people have to learn the hard way. Not being able to run like a deer after committing a crime for the rest of your life seems better than getting your hair parted with an axe. Even if it isn't as attractive to the homeowner...

If someone breaks into your home, it seems to me that you SHOULD be able to create some 'serious bodily injury'. Folding their legs the wrong way, breaking teeth, seriously bruising the family jewels, breaking ribs, stomping hard on hands, etc, should indicate that you used a certain amount of reasonable restraint. You COULD have killed him, but you didn't. Esp if you had him duct-taped at the time.

We need to stop coddling criminals or we'll end up like Britain.

Sue