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A vigilante is someone who takes the enforcement of law or moral code into his or her own hands. The term is Spanish for "watchman", a private security agent. It was introduced into English from the southwestern United States, in the same way as folkloric terms like "desperados". The term is applied to citizens who "take the law into their own hands," when the actions of established authorities are insufficient. Vigilantism is generally denounced by official agencies, especially when it gives way to criminal behaviour on the part of the vigilante, even if such illegal actions save lives.
Vigilantism has long existed before the formal word "vigilante" (Span. "watchman") came into being in the mid 19th century. In the historical Western literary tradition, scholars of vigilantism have noted that folkloric heroes and legendary outlaws (e.g., Robin Hood) often have displayed vigilante traits. In a state of affairs in which justice is far to seek and the effective agents of proper authority have been corrupted, the archetypal vigilante Robin Hood and his Merry Men take the law into their own hands and engage in righteous extralegal violence against the dastardly Sheriff of Nottingham, other dishonest authorities and wrongdoers the official courts have failed to punish. In many ways, Robin Hood ironically embodied the ideal of medieval Christian chivalry: his prowess, loyalty, and largesse are never in question; he is devoted to the Blessed Virgin and will harm no company in which ladies are present. Robin's selfless yet technically and formally illicit violent behavior performed in the name of "higher justice" is later recognized and pardoned by the returning righteous king of England. Thus, in the Western literary tradition, "vigilantism" is deeply connected to fundamental issues of morality, the nature of justice, the limits of bureaucratic authority and the ethical function of legitimate governance.
The "philosophy" informing the "heroic" vigilante ethos was formulated centuries ago by Aristotle: men possessing superior virtue and self-mastery necessarily transcend the external human bureaucratic-administrative framework and thus become themselves the imago dei (the image of God) on earth:
"There are men, wrote Aristotle, so godlike, so exceptional, that they naturally, by right of their extraordinary gifts, transcend all moral judgment or constitutional control: 'There is no law which embraces men of that calibre: they are themselves law.'" (Hughes-Hallett, Lucy. Heroes. Alfred A. Knopf, 2004.)
These are perspectives to vigilantism which are used in varying contexts:
The traditional view of vigilantism is that when people see their governments as being ineffective in enforcing the law, they justify violent acts in order to bring about justice.[1] "Vigilante justice" is usually spurred on by the perception that criminal punishment is insufficient to the crime, or nonexistent. Persons seen as escaping from the law, or "above the law" are generally the targets of vigilantism.[2] Some vigilantes see ethics and moral laws as superior to governmental laws and may believe that the ends justify the means.
Classical vigilantism was practiced widely in the "late colonial or early federal period" to protect against fake religious practitioners.[3] Hine, a law clerk, points out the context of classical vigilantism of people who "were concerned with protecting home and hearth from marauders."[3] In contemporary times, classical vigilantism was observed after the destruction of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina, as individuals watched over their private homes to protect them from looters, since local police were preoccupied dealing with large numbers of displaced citizens.[4]
The San Francisco Vigilance Movement in the mid-1850s was an example of secretive groups of vigilantes.[3] Hine points out that "neovigilantes often targeted religious and ethnic minorities for persecution."[3] Using the cliche "a person who takes the law into their own hands," neovigilantes are associated with groups in numerous examples in history. Such groups include neighborhood watch groups and U.S.-Mexico border minutemen that keep over wrongdoers. However, they do not exercise violence or use force against these people, but are expected to call for criminal activity.[5] In some cases vigilantes perform verbal abuse in attempt to make the lawbreakers turn around, stop, and rethink their illegal activities; or they may simply terrorize them.[6] Some vigilantes have no criminal intent but remain vigilant and attempt to aid in efforts where law enforcement lacks resources to cover a vast territorial range. Groups like the KKK take the cliche "a person who takes the law into their own hands" to a higher level with excessive violence and intimidation and are considered vigilantes as mentioned in historical records. The KKK historically exercised violence against Blacks when legal colored segregation laws at time where were in effect. However, they also conducted violence against African Americans long after segregation laws were abolished.
Pseudo-vigilantism recognized as a phenomenon in the 1960s-1970s is a result of a rise in United States criminal activity with a mix of notable controversial cases.[7][3] Historical records cite Bernhard Goetz setting a precedent and is a classic example of pseudo-vigilantism. The defining difference between self-defence and pseudo-vigilantism is the anticipation aspect, as with Goetz, who anticipated the threat and was the first person to initiate the attack, or pre-emptive attack, against four potential criminals. In these cases, the victim has to defend themselves from the victimizer in a life-or-death situation because police help may be too remote to be of assistance.[7]
The 1990s[7] marked the dawn of Internet age where accessibility of erotic information such as pornography can be had at home, and the accessibility to naive and under age children through instant messaging and chatrooms is easy. The accessibility through many different internet venues catering to perverts though secret chat channels is of concern and not under the watch of law enforcement.[8] As a result, vigilantes, or so called hackers with interest of law enforcement, justify breaking computer crime laws to protect the innocent and to protect the young ones. For example, a young adult Canadian hacker sent Trojans to suspected pedophiles then stood vigilant over their activities, bringing former Californian Superior Court Judge Ronald C. Kline to 27 months of jail and prosecuting other child porn downloaders.[9] The hacker broke California State law and possibly others that do not allow for unauthorized programs such as viruses in unauthorized computers, but he was never prosecuted.[10] In the U.S. media show Dateline NBC's To Catch a Predator in concert with the Perverted Justice cybergroup, using social engineering techniques, borrows a page out of neo-vigilantism (being and not breaking the law). This group lures potential child molesters from the Internet, who (having demonstrated that they intended to violate the law) are arrested on the spot by law enforcement.
A majority of these vigilantes are non-violent and non-confronting compared to previous historical vigilantes from previous decades.
The Hollywood vigilante had its development in the 1960s[11] and 1970s[12] as a time when the cop or detective story was popular. With censorship of this genre, production of these movies declined, showing a change in American values. These cops are said to express unrelenting and uncompromising violence towards anyone who got in between both the vigilante cop and criminal that broke laws to accomplish their objectives.[11] For example the film Léon The Professional features a DEA agent who, without any repercussion, kills a family, including an innocent young child, in order to eliminate a narcotics trafficker who has stolen a percentage of the heroin that the DEA agent asked him to hold. Therefore the DEA agent wasn't acting as a vigilante cop but as a criminal drug dealer who uses his authority position as a DEA agent to his advantage. The real vigilantes in that film were Matilda and Leon.
Another prime example of vigilantism in movies is the film The Boondock Saints. It depicts the story two enraged Irishmen who, believing themselves to be on a mission from God, indiscriminately kill anyone involved in organized crime. This film has become something of a cult classic because of the righteous indignation it often spurns in viewers, and the fantastic violence which the vigilantes turn upon those they judge to be morally bankrupt.
Vigilantism in the comic book arena has its basic concepts in several fictional genres, including stories published in dime novels and comic books. Many of the heroes of pulp fiction, such as Doc Savage and The Shadow, and comic book superheroes such as Batman, The Punisher and Daredevil are vigilantes because they operate outside the law in order to combat lawlessness. In fact, virtually any superhero, including Superman, and Spider-Man can be considered vigilantes if he or she is not acting under the direct authority of a law enforcement agency or other government body. A key example is Watchmen, a DC Comics limited series of the late 1980s written by Alan Moore, in which superheroes are portrayed by society and government as illegal vigilantes. Also of note is the DC comic book character of the 1940s and revived in the 1980s, the Vigilante.