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Vigilante
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A vigilante is a person who violates the law in order to exact what they believe to be justice from criminals, because they think that the criminal will not be caught or will not be sufficiently punished by the legal system.
Several groups and individuals have been labeled as vigilantes by various historians and media.
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A vigilante is a person who violates the law in order to exact what they believe to be justice from criminals, because they think that the criminal will not be caught or will not be sufficiently punished by the legal system.
Several groups and individuals have been labeled as vigilantes by various historians and media. Vigilantes have been central to several creative fictional works and are often depicted as being heroes and retaliatory against wrongdoers.
Members of community watch programs and others who use legal means of bringing people to justice are not considered vigilantes. For example, in 1979 Curtis Sliwa founded the Guardian Angels in New York City, a recognized crime fighting organization that now has chapters in many other cities. See also citizen's arrest.
Etymology
The term vigilante has Latin origins: "vigilans/vigilantis"- the present participle of "vigilare" (to watch), and stands now for "watchman" or "watcher". Its etymology is closely related to (though its meaning very different from) that of the term vigilance.
Note that the term vigilantism is a derivative of vigilante, not of vigilant or vigilance. The term vigilante was introduced into English from the northeast United States. Vigilantism is generally frowned upon by official agencies (who would otherwise encourage vigilance on the part of citizens), especially when it gives way to criminal behavior on the part of the vigilante.
Often seen in rapidly growing towns, citizens sometimes choose vigilantism, capturing suspected criminals and punishing them without a trial.
Vigilante behavior
"Vigilante justice" is sometimes spurred on by the perception that criminal punishment is insufficient or nonexistent to the crime. Some people see their governments as ineffective in enforcing the law; thus, such individuals fulfill the like-minded wishes of the community. In other instances, a person may choose a role of vigilante as a result of personal experience as opposed to a social demand.
Persons seen as "escaping from the law" or "above the law" are sometimes the targets of vigilantism. It may target persons or organizations involved in illegal activities in general or it may be aimed against a specific group or type of activity, e.g. police corruption. Other times, governmental corruption is the prime target of vigilante freedom fighters.
Vigilante behavior may differ in degree of violence. In some cases vigilantes may assault targets verbally, physically attack them or vandalise their property. Anyone who defies the law to further justice is a vigilante, and thus violence is not a necessary criterion.
History
Vigilantism and the vigilante ethos existed long before the word vigilante was introduced into the English language. There are conceptual and psychological parallels between the Dark Age and medieval aristocratic custom of private war or vendetta and the modern vigilante philosophy.
Recourse to personal vengeance and duelling was considered a class privilege of the sword-bearing aristocracy before the formation of the modern centralized liberal-bureaucratic nation-state (see Marc Bloch, trans. L. A. Manyon, Feudal Society, Vol. I, 1965, p. 127). In addition, sociologists have posited a complex legal and ethical interrelationship between vigilante acts and rebellion and tyrannicide.
In the Western literary and cultural tradition, characteristics of vigilantism have often been noted in folkloric heroes and legendary outlaws (e.g., Robin Hood). Vigilantism in literature, folklore and legend is deeply connected to the fundamental issues of morality, the nature of justice, the limits of bureaucratic authority and the ethical function of legitimate governance.
During medieval times, punishment of felons was sometimes exercised by such secret societies as the courts of the Vehm (cf. the medieval Sicilian Vendicatori and the Beati Paoli), a type of early vigilante organization, which became extremely powerful in Westphalian Germany during the 15th century.
Colonial era in America
Formally-defined vigilantism arose in the early American colonies.
- Established the mid-18th century, for instance, the Regulator movement of American colonial times was composed of citizen volunteers of the frontier who opposed official misconduct and extrajudicially punished banditry.
19th century
Later in America, vigilante groups established themselves in poorly governed frontier areas where criminals preyed upon the citizenry with impunity.
- In the 1850s, the San Francisco Vigilance Movement was an example of secretive groups of vigilantes who cleaned up city streets of crime with a segment focused against immigrants.
- In the aftermath of the Civil War and the South's defeat, vigilante secret societies, such as the Ku Klux Klan, which hid behind masks and robes, and the Knights of the White Camellia, emerged, using violence and intimidation to continue an insurgent war, enforce white supremacy against blacks, and to intimidate white Republicans and Freedmen's Bureau agents. With state and Federal enforcement, violent activity from these groups began to taper off until dissolution in 1871.
- In 1868 between 60 and 70 vigilantes broke into the New Albany, Indiana jail and lynched three Reno Brothers.
- Active in 1883–1889, the Bald Knobbers (or Baldknobbers) were masked men who retaliated against invading marauders and drove out outlaws in Taney County.
20th century
- In the 1920s, the Big Sword Society of China protected life and property in a state of anarchy.
- Formed in 1977, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has been increasingly active against whaling and fishing vessels which they see as violating international laws, regulations and treaties, particularly where whaling is concerned. It endorses an active policy of scuttling fishing and whaling vessels while in harbor, and ramming and sinking vessels engaged in the killing of whales.
- Recognized since the 1980s, Sombra Negra or "Black Shadow" of El Salvador is a group of mostly retired police officers and military personnel whose sole duty is to cleanse the country of "impure" social elements by killing criminals and gang members. Along with several other organizations, Sombra Negra are a remnant of the death squads from the civil war of the 1970s and 1980s.
- In 1981, a resident of the rural town Skidmore, Missouri fatally shot town bully Ken McElroy in broad daylight after years of crimes without any punishment. Forty five people witnessed the shooting, but everybody kept quiet when it came time to identify the shooter.
- In 1984, Bernhard Goetz was surrounded on a New York City subway train by four African American men intent on mugging him. He shot all four and fled, earning him the media appellation "the subway vigilante".
- Formed since 1996, the People Against Gangsterism and Drugs of Cape Town, South Africa fights drugs and gangsterism in their region. They have been linked to terrorism since they bombed some American targets in Cape Town.
- Formed since 1998, the Bakassi Boys of Nigeria were viewed as the frontmen in lowering the region's high crime when police were ineffective.
- Formed in 1996, Mapogo a Mathamaga of South Africa provides protection for paying members of this group. Leaders have been charged with murder, etc.
21st century (present day)
- Current mayor of Davao City, Philippines Rodrigo Duterte is noted for transforming the city from the murder capital of the nation to what tourism organizations there now call "the most peaceful city in Southeast Asia". He's been suspected of being involved with the vigilante outfit Davao Death Squad and has been criticized by human rights groups and by Amnesty International for tolerating extrajudicial killings of alleged criminals. Time magazine has dubbed him "The Punisher".
- Formed since 2000, Ranch Rescue is a still functioning organization in the southwest United States ranchers call upon to forcibly remove illegal aliens and squatters off their property.
- In the early decade of 2000, after the September 11 attacks, Jonathan Idema, a self proclaimed vigilante, entered Afghanistan and captured many people he claimed to be terrorists. Idema claimed he was collaborating with, and supported by, the United States Government. He even sold news-media outlets tapes that he claimed showed an Al Qaeda training camp in action. His operations ended abruptly when he was arrested with his partners in 2004 and sentenced to 10 years in a notorious Afghan prison, before being pardoned in 2007.
- Operating since 2002, perverted-justice.com opponents have accused the website of being modern day cyber vigilantes.
- Salwa Judum, the anti naxalite group formed in 2005,in India, is also considered by many as a vigilante group & its policies are suspected to be helping naxals.
- In Hampshire, England, during 2006, a vigilante slashed the tires of more than twenty cars, leaving a note made from cut-out newsprint stating "Warning: you have been seen while using your mobile phone". Driving whilst using a mobile is a criminal offence in the UK, but the law is little observed or enforced.
- In Northern Ireland, vigilantism has been observed against drug dealers and pedophiles. In one such case, a convicted pedophile had been released from prison early, kidnapped by a group of men dressed in black clothing and balaclavas, much like the Provisional Irish Republican Army or Ulster Volunteer Force. He was stabbed twice, then put in the back of a Ford Transit van where four Bull Mastiff dogs were waiting for him. He was then driven around Belfast and Derry for two hours. After the dogs mauled him, he was dumped in the verges of a dual carriageway. He survived.
- In 2007, religious vigilantes in the southern Iraqi city of Basrain warning against "violating Islamic teachings" killed at least 40 women not wearing traditional dress and head scarves.
Works of fiction
See: Vigilantes in popular culture
See also
External links
- by Woody Guthrie.
- Comfort Ero, Conflict Trends (June 2000): 25-29.
- Martha K. Huggins, editor, , Praeger/Greenwood, 1991.
- Bill Ong Hing, , Donkeyphant, Vol. 9 (Summer 2002).
- Tom O’Connor,
- Stephen Faris, Mother Jones (April 25, 2002)
- EyeWitness to History, .
- Steven F. Messner, Eric P. Baumer, and Richard Rosenfeld, Law & Society Review (September 2006)
- Vincent Moss, , Sunday Mirror (June 25 2006)
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