Vigilantism

The term vigilantism emanates from the Spanish word for watchman: vigilante, which has its origins in the Latin word for observant, vigil. The most basic definition of a vigilante, or vigilantism, is a person or group of persons who take the law into their own hands. Vigilantism is related to race and crime because Whites and minorities often are its victims. In the 19th and 20th centuries, vigilantes were involved in the lynching of [Page 862]African Americans. More recently, illegal Latina/o immigrants are targeted by vigilantes along the U.S.-Mexico border. This entry briefly describes explanations, types, and examples of vigilantism, including cyber-vigilantism.

Individuals or groups of people may take the law into their own hands for any of a variety of reasons. Some underlying themes are that the vigilante or vigilantes intend to effect some punishment to avenge a wrong committed by someone, to deter future misconduct by a certain person or persons, to carry out personal agendas to protest or enforce existing law, or to incapacitate a person or persons who are perceived by the vigilante or vigilantes to be dangerous to society. Indeed, the motivations underlying vigilantism vary according to the individual or individuals seeking perceived justice. Whatever the reason, vigilantes believe that resorting to force is necessary, and justifiable, because of the perceived refusal or incapacity of government to provide desired protection.

Vigilantism can occur in two main forms: individual vigilantism or group vigilantism. The individual vigilante is the one most often portrayed in media such as movies and television, or in video games and comic books. The individual vigilante can also be one who seeks to involve others in his or her plans. Group vigilantism, much more common than individual vigilantism, can take either of two main forms: crime control or social control. Group vigilantism for crime control seeks to punish people believed to be guilty of criminal wrongdoing. Group vigilantism for social control seeks to repair some perceived injustice in the social order that affects or threatens to affect the community's values.

Whatever the form, vigilantism in the United States has been a popular response to the perceived failure of the government in protecting or enforcing public safety. Vigilance committees were formed in the South during the 1830s to protect the institution of slavery against dissolution by abolitionists. A vigilance committee was a voluntary group of men (sometimes but rarely including some women) who joined together to defend against an actual or perceived harm to their families or community. These vigilance committees generally targeted the lower socioeconomic class and certain other groups that were actual or perceived threats to the vigilance committee's way of life. Common forms of punishment meted out by the vigilance committees included banishing, harassing, or shunning individuals or groups of individuals, and sometimes involved killing certain perceived or actual offenders.

When the first groups of settlers in this country moved west, there were no criminal justice systems to protect them or to maintain order. Absent such a protective system of law and order, victims of offenses and their friends commonly formed vigilante groups to track down and punish offenders. It is reported that some of our country's bloodiest vigilante movements occurred in the state of Montana from 1863 to 1865, and again in 1884. There are accounts of 65 people being killed by vigilante justice in Montana during these time periods, including a sheriff who was accused of being involved with highway robbers and horse thieves.

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