Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/06/28/booby-traps.html
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Legal Eagle did a video about that old case.
Yes, booby traps are a bad idea, especially if its around an area you are in all the time, because it only takes forgetting about it once to make you the booby.
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They’re also a bad idea because only a sociopath values private property over human life.
I guess I’d be cranky if someone broke into my abandoned building to steal some old junk but not cranky enough to commit murder.
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I think this was case #1 in my torts class.
tl;dr: You can’t do with an agent (or automated means) what isn’t permitted to do yourself. The use of lethal force to protect an unoccupied structure is excessive.
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“F**king squirrels did me in, buddy.”
I don’t know why, but it seems like the perfect quote to encapsulate (metaphorically) the whole concept of booby trapping properties…
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So if I just dropped a net on them, and that triggered an alarm so someone could go let them out (no danger of starvation) would that be ok?
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I wouldn’t- still that risk of getting sued into oblivion.
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Personally, I prefer the classic booby traps: pressure plates that release a shower of poison darts, and gigantic spherical boulders that chase intruders down narrow stone tunnels filled with cobwebs.
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In Home Alone the structure was occupied by a lone 8 year old. Am I right in guessing the booby traps to stop the bandits would still be illegal, but he would have been allowed to shoot them? 
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The classic legal answer is “it depends,” but, an occupied dwelling (more than a mere “structure”) is given the highest threshold for defense. Shooting or using booby traps, even lethal ones, would be fine. And, in the modern era of “stand your ground” laws, even more so.
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Even in 1986, Florida was Florida.
New York Times: 8/5/1986
After his small general merchandise store was robbed eight times since it opened a year ago, four times in two recent weeks, Prentice F. Rasheed decided to catch the thief himself.
Last week he installed an electric booby trap in the ceiling of his shop, situated in an area where the police record many crimes. On Tuesday the trap electrocuted a man who managed to get into the store at night and was leaving with stolen goods.
Mr. Rasheed was arrested the next day by the Miami police on a manslaughter charge. He was released on a $6,500 bond paid by fellow merchants who sided with him, including members of the Edison Model City Merchants Association, of which William J. Calhoun is a director.
Mr. Calhoun, owner of a tailor shop 50 yards from Mr. Rasheed’s, called the death ‘‘regrettable’’ but added:
‘‘We all are in sympathy with Prentice. We understand his frustration. We have put iron bars on the windows and doors of our establishments, but that does not stop burglars because there is no virtually no protection here.’’
Reginald Roundtree, a spokesman for the Miami police, said: ‘‘Obviously, there is some police protection. We probably could do a little more.’’ Case Is Under Review
George Yoss, Chief Assistant State Attorney for Dade County, said his office was reviewing the case against Mr. Rasheed, who is scheduled to appear in court Oct. 22.
Legal experts here disagreed as to how Florida law would apply to the case. A prevailing view, however, has been that it is impermissible to use lethal means to protect property. In the case of law-enforcement officers, for example, the United States Supreme Court ruled last year in a Tennessee case that deadly force could not be used to apprehend a burglar unless there was a threat to human life.
The man who died, Odell Hicks, 27 years old, lived a block from Mr. Rasheed’s store. Mr. Hicks had a long record of criminal offenses, the police say. In 1976 he was found guilty of burglary and sexual battery and sentenced to eight years in prison on each charge. In 1981, several months after his release, he was arrested again and accused of breaking into a house.
Mr. Rasheed, who is 43, said he regretted the incident. ‘‘I can’t be happy that a young man lost his life,’’ he said. He said that by rigging the booby trap and connecting it to a 110-volt outlet, he only wanted to scare would-be robbers.
The police theorized that when Mr. Hicks entered the store he was protected from the current by his rubber-soled sneakers. But when he was leaving he touched metal with sweaty hands and died. Demand for Protection
Lisa Scott, co-owner of a record store next to Mr. Rasheed’s, said her establishment was broken into seven times this year. ‘‘There is no police protection here at all,’’ she said. ‘‘When we report a burglary, all they do is to write up a report and give us a copy. None of us has insurance, and each robbery represents a severe financial loss.’’
Liberty City, where Mr. Rasheed’s business is situated, was the center of racial riots in 1980 that resulted in a number of deaths and over $100 million in damages.
In the last six years the area has had significant commercial development, and business owners like Mr. Calhoun say this is why it has become a target of burglars.
UPI: Los Angeles Times: 8/9/1986
A grand jury refused Tuesday to indict Prentice Rasheed, a Liberty City merchant who set a booby trap that electrocuted a man who broke into his store.
The Dade County Grand Jury returned a “no true bill” in Rasheed’s case, but issued a statement saying citizens should not interpret the ruling as a signal that it is acceptable to use deadly force to protect their property.
Odell Hicks, 20, was electrocuted on Sept. 30 in Rasheed’s store. Police had charged Rasheed with using an electrical device during a felony and manslaughter, which carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison.
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or classic snare trap:
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While most of the cases mentioned before had lethal traps, I remember a scenario involving window glass or bars. It was another situation with multiple break-ins at the same location where thieves were crawling through a window. The property owner decided not to clean up or repair what was broken, so the next person who tried to enter that way cut themselves on it.
I’m not sure if the property owner faced criminal charges or a civil suit. They did attempt to hold them accountable for the trespasser’s injuries. What stuck with me was the deliberate inaction - not correcting the hazard - being considered just as bad as the elaborate booby-trapping described above.
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It looks like the significant moral of the story is for the cops: there may be some gunwankers in punisher cosplay who cannot be reasoned with; but the general public is prepared to accept the theory that you enjoy a monopoly on legitimate force, but not in the face of blatant evidence to the contrary.
I think Galaxy Quest summed that up pretty well.
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Although “booby-traps” are illegal, electrified fencing is not. I was surprised that one of the airport parking lots in Oakland has one, with exposed wires where patrons or their kids might touch them accidentally. I also keep getting ads for 7,000 volt electric anti-burglar fencing on Facebook. They are supposed to be engineered to be non-lethal, which I trust about as much as a PR release by Taser (or whatever name they are calling themselves now) - however there is apparently an international standard for such fence…
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I wonder about the legality of booby traps that don’t kill or injure- for example, a door that locks behind an intruder and can’t be opened, so they’re held against their will until police can arrive. Would that be considered reasonable, as long as they’re not kept in there long enough to suffer from dehydration? Or is it still too dangerous because they could hurt themselves trying to escape, or maybe they need medication they can’t reach in time, or other factors? Is there any circumstance that’s fully permissible other than allowing them to do their robbery and leave unimpeded, hoping that they’ll get caught later?
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None of us has insurance, and each robbery represents a severe financial loss
Yeah, maybe invest in that rather than in electric chairs without due process?
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