the.com/vigilantism
justice with no warrant, no jury, and no idea when to stop.
means private citizens punishing perceived wrongdoing without legal authority to do so.
from from the spanish vigilante, meaning watchman, borrowed into english via 19th-century american vigilance committees that policed frontier towns lacking formal courts.
first wavesan francisco's 1851 committee hanged accused criminals openly.
legal statusalmost universally illegal, even when the target was guilty.
comic ironybatman is fiction's most beloved vigilante and its worst example.
modern formonline mobs now do doxxing instead of rope.
for instance
bernhard goetz — shot four teens on a nyc subway in 1984, became a folk hero.
kitty genovese myth — 1964 murder falsely blamed on bystander apathy, fueled vigilante fears.
paul kersey — fictional death wish architect turned one-man judge and executioner, 1974.
west africa hunters — dozo hunter militias in mali still enforce local order today.