Vigilantism: Is it justified?

Over the past few years, there has been a steady decrease in the trust of law enforcement and their ability to do their job. Because of this there a been a slow rise in the number of cases when civilians take the law into their own hands and do what they believe is a justified punishment. When a person takes the law into their own hands they become a vigilante. A vigilante is any person who takes the law into their own hands to avenge some type of crime.[1] (http://www.dictionary.com/browse/vigilante) Since there is a growing mistrust of law enforcement and many crimes go unreported or do not have a proper punishment, vigilantism can be justified more often than it is not.

As there is an increase in vigilantism …show more content…
In May of 2009 in Toronto, an Anthony Bennet stole around $100 of merchandise from Lucky Moose Food Store. When he later returned to the store, the owner and workers tied him up and detained him despite that being illegal in Canada. The store owner was arrested and charged with assault, kidnapping, and other charges; later in court, all charges were dropped against the store owner and Bennet was sentenced to thirty days in prison. Another example of vigilantism that many people can understand is the case of Lori Palmer. When Palmer’s 12-year-old daughter told her mother that she had been molested by Scott Philips, the husband of Lori’s best friend, she quickly reported the crime to the police but feeling that other the department was taking too long and other children could be in danger, Palmer took the law into her own hands. Palmer drove to Scott’s workplace, had him get into her car, drove 20 minutes away from the city and threatened his life if he did not confess. He quickly confessed to molesting her daughter and after she drove him to the police department he confessed to the officers there. He was then arrested, but so was Lori Palmer. Philips was arrested for rape and sentenced to only four years in prison for “aggravated indecent liberties with a child.[2]” However, Lori Palmer was “arrested for kidnapping with intent to commit first-degree murder. She faced up to five years in prison, but …show more content…
The definition of vigilantism doesn’t deem whether the vigilante is a good person. Many people might say that there has even been a dilution of law because of the media aspect that vigilantism is something to be encouraged. Often enough vigilantes end up breaking the law and not recognizing the fact that the law has been broken. Many times, the line between justice and revenge can be blurred, ignored, or people might take it way too far. A case of this is the ‘cow vigilante’ in India. Even though the slaughtering of cows is illegal in most parts of India there have been groups sprouting up in the area claiming that their only goal is to protect the cows. Since 2014 there has been a rise in the incidences of violence done in the name of protecting cattle. Many of these incidences happened on the mere suspicion that a person was transferring cattle for slaughter or assuming they had just consumed beef. Many leaders in India, including Indira Jaising, Tehseen Poonawala, and Tushar Gandhi, petitioned and begged for the Supreme Court of India to step in and punish those committing crimes in the name of cow protection. Finally, the Supreme Court stepped and, “made it clear in no uncertain terms that attacks on innocents by cow vigilantes must stop.” [4] It is people and groups like these that give vigilantism a bad name, and why,