Why are vigilantes illegal

By definition, vigilantes cannot be legally justified — if they satisfied a justification defense, for example, they would not be law-breakers — but they may well be morally justified, if their aim is to provide the order and justice that the criminal justice system has failed to provide in a breach of the social contract.

Yet, even moral vigilantism is detrimental to society and ought to be avoided, ideally not by prosecuting moral vigilantism but by avoiding the creation of situations that would call for it. Unfortunately, the U. These doctrines of disillusionment may provoke vigilante acts, but not in numbers that make it a serious practical problem. More damaging is their tendency to provoke what might be called "shadow vigilantism," in which ordinary people manipulate and subvert the criminal justice system to compel it to impose the justice that they see it as reluctant to impose.

Unfortunately, shadow vigilantism can be widespread and impossible to effectively prosecute, leaving the system's justness seriously distorted.

This, in turn, can provoke a damaging anti-system response, as in the Stop Snitching movement, that further degrades the system's reputation for doing justice, producing a downward spiral of lost credibility and deference. If you are in a situation in which you have retaliated, and taken matters of the law into your own hands, you will need to contact a knowledgeable and well-qualified criminal defense attorney immediately.

An experienced attorney will help you understand your options, discuss potential legal consequences, and represent you in court. In addition, they may be able to argue a lesser sentence for you by presenting the court with facts that would make them more sympathetic to the circumstances of your case. Travis Peeler. Travis earned his J. Travis has written about numerous legal topics ranging from articles tracking every Supreme Court decision in Texas to the law of virtual reality.

In his spare time off from the legal world and quest for knowledge, this 3rd degree black belt and certified instructor aspires to work with various charities geared towards bringing access to entertainment and gaming to all persons. Jose Rivera. Law Library Disclaimer. Can't find your category?

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Please select a city from the list. Environmental activists inflict economic losses on companies by obstructing lawful business activities that they think will cause harm to the air, water, or land.

Every day people use force and violence to exact revenge against someone whom they believe has done them wrong. In each case, vigilantes take it upon themselves to enact justice, rather than enlist police officers, lawyers, judges, and the rest of the established legal machinery to do the job. And, in each case, vigilantes risk starting a cycle of violence and lawlessness in which the victims of vigilantism take the law into their own hands to exact pay-back.

The motivations underlying acts of vigilantism vary according to the individual vigilante. Some vigilantes seek to carry out personal agendas to protest existing law. Others seek to enforce existing law as they interpret, define, or understand it.

Still others seek to implement or call attention to some kind of higher law that they feel overrules the norms established by society's designated lawmaking institutions.

Since no state or federal jurisdiction offers any kind of "vigilante defense" to criminal prosecution, vigilantes must rely on the moral rectitude of their cause to justify their acts. Yet the morality of most acts of vigilantism is relative to whether one is the perpetrator or victim of vigilantism, as the targets of vigilantism rarely agree that the acts were justified. The moral relativity associated with vigilantism is not as evident in less technological societies where vigilantism is simply equated with action taken by private residents to maintain security and order in the community, or to otherwise promote community welfare.

For example, during much of the nineteenth century, local governments in the western United States were decentralized and loosely organized at best.