Is Vigilantism Helpful to Society in Its Attempts to Enforce Justice and Eradicate Crime?

Crime and deviance are acts that will elicit dissent from society. They take various forms and involve various concepts and theories. It will be the aim of this paper to explore those that are considered to be functional for society. It was Emile Durkheim who first clearly established the logic behind the functional approach to the study of crime and deviance[1] when he wrote The Rules of Sociological Method and The Division of Labour[2].

Is this modern concept much different than other stories we have grown up watching from an early age? I believe there are many similarities in stories of superheroes and comic many of us grew up reading and watching on Saturday mornings. Batman, a well-known super hero, fought crime in Gotham and was the “Dark Knight” that restored peace in his community. While Batman did not kill the criminals he was chasing after he did bring them to justice!

Why do people commit certain crimes? Crimes are committed for many different reasons by people, but there is category of people who commit crimes in response to a State in which is biasedly against them and is posed to create some sort of statement and in many instances poverty can contribute to crime. Lets take the instance that if someone has grown up in a situation of poverty and is in a hopeless situation some individuals given those circumstances will turn to crime to get out of their poor conditions. Some may argue it is not an excuse because they are many who are poor who do not commit crime but on the contrary there are also many who are rich that do commit crime and get away with it due to their power or legitimacy. So we see that clearly if the conditions are bad or poor for somebody chances are that they is a higher possibility that some of those people might be involved in crime. There are some determinants that factor out in this consideration which is depending on the area and environment the individual surrounds themselves around with, there is a saying that “you are a product of your own environment”, due to this proposition the poor people get lack of opportunity to network with wealthy and educated individuals up in the hierarchy. They can only resort to the streets because of their environment, these people grew up in poverty and all around them is gang-affiliates, violent and drugs. The norms is that society considers

In the early 1800's, when many immigrants came over from other countries, violence against the natives increased dramatically. America being the young nation it was could not deal with the violence in the nation. The author states "Justice often meant "frontier justice", in which groups of the local citizenry took the law into their own hands: hanging horse thieves, or riding undesirables out of town were among the ways early criminal sentencing was handled" (Moser, Watters p 481). Following the Civil War, many whites started organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan, Bald Knobbers, and the White Cappers.

Throughout the 1920′s the Klan’s membership saw an increase, estimates at the time ranged from 3-5 million and profits rolled in from the sale these memberships, regalia, costumes and rituals. The Ku Klux Klan used intimidation, threats, beating and even murder in their quest for a “purified America”, thus appealing to many Americans due to their proactive approach, which had not been mirrored by that of the republican government during the period. An example of such influence is the alleged election of governors in Maine, Colorado and Louisiana who had KKK support.

In the world of superheroes, there are numerous that believe they are heroes, while in actuality, they are merely vigilantes. This is demonstrated throughout the world of superheroes, but it is not as prominently demonstrated as in Batman. Batman presents himself as a hero, while he is only an over imaginative vigilante. He is more a vigilante than a hero since he has the ability to stop crime, but doesn’t, he only does deeds for his own benefit, and he helps the law but isn’t part of it. These are only a few ways Batman is a vigilante, rather than a hero. These are mainly based upon the idea of him trying to right his own past.

In the novel “Black Boy”, Richard Wright describes a boy who is tired of getting robbed and attacked by a pack of boys on his way to the grocery store. It says, “I hit again and again, dropping the money and the grocery list. The boys scattered yelling, nursing their heads staring at me in utter disbelief.” (Wright 4). Richard hits the gang of boys with a stick to make them leave. This shows that some violence is needed to solve a problem because if Richard tried to talk to the boys, he would get his money taken, so by hitting them, he got rid of his problem, because they will now leave him alone. Furthermore, people will need violence to defend themselves and others from getting hurt. Khaled Hosseini writes in the Kite Runner, “He really meant to hurt me. Assef raised his fist and came for me. There was a flurry of rapid movement behind me. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Hassan bend down and stand up quickly (…) I turned and came face to face with Hassan’s slingshot. Hassan had pulled the wide elastic band all the way back. (..) Hassan held the slingshot pointed directly at Assef’s face.” (Hosseini 2). The main character Amir was about to get beat up, but his friend used a slingshot to make Assef, the bully leave. It shows that using violence to fight violence works, because the bully was going to hurt Amir with brass knuckles, but when Hassan

The streets had mostly criminals, such as Al Capone and Bugs Moran, roaming around cities like New York and various others, running underground gambling, bootlegging, and other illegal operations. In the 1920s, the criminal chaos of the the Ku Klux Klan had risen extensively. Membership of the KKK became easier than ever, it quickly escalated to six figures under the leadership of “Colonel” William Simmons and advertising expert Edward Young Clarke. The common crimes the Ku Klux Klan had committed in the name of it's strongly bias beliefs were terrifyingly immoral, organizing hangings, floggings, mutilations, tarring and featherings, kidnappings, brandings by acid, along with a new intimidation tactic, cross-burnings. The Ku Klux Klan had now became a clear threat to the eyes in the Bureau and all how who had knew about them, a deep threat to the public's safety and

The first point is highlighted on many occasions, from times when he gets badly injured yet keeps on fighting, to times where he lets his emotions for people get in the way of true “justice”. Bruce Wayne as a child was brought up in a world where there was seemingly no justice, a world where after his parents were killed never seemed to be fair, Bruce never felt that justice was truly served. He was trained by a group of vigilantes who’s eventual goal was to destroy

The pros for keeping the sign up would be to deter “would be” burglars from attempting to burglarize the property. People would think first before they act on any evil intentions.

What I hope to learn from this research is to have a better understanding of how proactive policing impacts communities and what role it has on crime. While initially researching community policing and its effects on violent crime, I found out it is specifically a type of proactive policing. The subject of community policing and its effect on violent crime was too specific a subject to research. The recent police misconduct cases with local communities led me to question how effective proactive policing is and what benefits its practice had on crime. I found there has been very little research done on this subject and the research done is from decades old data collected from larger cities where the majority of violent crime is committed.

Police officers have been the center of attention for many years now. They appear in the news, on television, you name it. Living in the D.C., Maryland and Virginia (DMV) area, I can proudly say the police force have a great impact on this society. However, whether that impact is villainous or heroic, there is no way to be completely sure. Just like the President of the United States, the police take an oath that goes like this: “On my honor, I will never betray my badge, my integrity, my character, or the public trust. I will always have the courage to hold myself and others accountable for our actions. I will always uphold the Constitution, the community, and the agency I serve, so help me God.” (IACP). With this oath, rest assured that the police’s intentions are not atrocious. Police officers are not superheroes – which would be nice – and they are certainly not perfect. Under that badge and uniform is a human made with flesh and blood just like yourself; and a human who makes lots of mistakes as well. While recognizing that some police abuse their power and recognizing the negative aspects of police force, the bigger picture shows that police officers do more good than harm.

Batman is one of the many fictional superheroes which appears in the “American comic books” that is published by the DC comics. The character is a secret identity for Bruce Wayne, the only heir to Wayne Enterprises. Bruce Wayne swore an oath of vengeance when he witnessed the death of his parents;Thomas Wayne and Martha Wayne (Diamond, 2015). Bat man combats criminals in Gotham: a fictional city, with assistance from various characters, for example, his butler Alfred and Gordon; Gotham city police commissioner. Unlike many of the superheroes characters, Batman possesses no powers .Bruce Wayne trained himself intellectually and physically .it is from dedication to training he possessed the useful traits of physical prowess, martial arts skills, detective skills and indomitable will to fight for justice. Though his motive is to combat crime and protect people of Gotham city from criminals, the justice system in most of the times views Batman as a villain and vigilante. He can inflict fear to Gotham city criminals thereby bringing calmness to the city. I identify myself with the Batman character through his selfless will for justice, his strong determination to do good

According to the Australian Government of Criminology (2017), Crime prevention is ‘an effective approach to reducing crime. It is internationally recognised as an important component of a national approach to building viable communities.’ This essay will examine the case of the kings Cross shooting that occurred in 2012, involving the Indigenous community, Sydney police and Society. it will cover the importance of Crime prevention and the strategies in which are ideal to maintain the safety and security of the community and the offender partaking in the crime. This essay will focus broadly on the perspective of Social Crime Prevention, and the importance it obtains to prevent crime from occurring.

Now in these days everyone one likes to read comic books since they became part of our society. What makes them interesting is how entertaining they could get giving us different points of views on different stories of superheroes. Many of us believe that “Classic superheroes stories are wildly fun, suspenseful and exciting” (Tom and Matt Morris) forgetting the idea of what really makes a hero. Different perceptions of superheroes are considered based on their wrong actions and way of thinking. Frank’s Miller Batman: The Dark Knight Returns is one of the comic books that make us “rethink the conception of the superhero and press each of us to reconsider some of the fundamental moral principles