A person is justified in using physical force, other than deadly physical force, upon another person when and to the extent that the person reasonably believes it to be necessary to prevent or terminate the commission or attempted commission by the other person of theft or criminal mischief of property.
ORS 161.229
Known as the Oregon Criminal Code
The act spans §§ 161–161 (150 sections).
Applied in 8 court decisions — leading case 43 Or. App. 639 - State v. Lockwood (1979)
Most recently applied in State v. Williams (December 2025)
1971 c.743 §26
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Official source: Oregon State Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain Oregon statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.