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An affirmative defense is a category of defense used in litigation between private parties in common law jurisdictions, or, more familiarly, a type of defense raised in criminal law by the defendant. Affirmative defenses operate to limit or excuse or avoid a defendant's criminal culpability or civil liability, even if the factual allegations of plaintiff's claim are admitted or proven. A clear illustration of an affirmative defense is self-defense. In its simplest form, a criminal defendant may be exonerated, if he can demonstrate that he had an honest and reasonable belief that his conduct was necessary to protect himself against another's use of unlawful force. Among the most controversial affirmative defenses is the insanity defense, whereby a criminal defendant, shown to be insane at the time of their crime, seeks commitment to a mental institution in lieu of imprisonment. An affirmative defense must be timely pleaded by the defendant in order for the court to consider it, or else it is considered waived by the defendant's failure to assert it. What constitutes timely assertion is often itself the subject of contentious litigation.
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