Vigilantism In Criminal Justice

A majority of the population have erroneous beliefs concerning law enforcement agencies. Many believe police should not have the authority to use force, no matter what the situation. Often people believe everything can be resolved in peaceful terms with no one injured or killed. Likewise, people do not understand the need to use force and the responsibility of use of force by the police. Sometimes problems cannot be solved in a

The world of Law Enforcement is something that often gets laughed at, especially in this day and age. People don’t respect Law Enforcement, or even care about them, as much as they actually should. After all, who comes to find the culprit if your home has been burglarized? Or what about a loved one being killed, who finds the murderer? There are so many things that everyday citizens forget about, things that happen more often than we’d like to admit, and we should be thankful that we have people to deal with all of it for us. Why would you let the action, poor judgement, or any mistake of one single person affect the way you see an entire group? That’s like saying every German is a Nazi, and they all hate Jews.

At the majors fair I visited a total of three different major tables. Those majors were Criminal Justice, Anthropology and Simulation and Game Design. The first major that I visited was the Criminal Justice table because I am taking intro to Criminal Justice and wanted more information about the major. At the table was Ms. Kusko the department chair and also my professor for my Criminal Justice Class. At the table I learned that students interested in the Criminal Justice field have to take the intro class and also a few psychology classes such as the intro class and the Psych and Law class. Additionally, I learned that there are very interesting jobs for graduates in the Criminal Justice major from working in local law enforcement all the

Justice is defined in law enforcement in many different and accurate ways. Justice is inevitable and controversial when defining it in terms of law enforcement. Law enforcement is challenged in every possible way as the

The justice system’s failure to prosecute police brutality is a hot topic since most riots and acts of public violence surround this issue. One of the obstacles with prosecuting police brutality is a lack of evidence. As stated by Andrew Walter in an overview of police brutality, the failure to prove police brutality cases “stems from...difficulty in

The history of policing dates back several thousand years ago when there was no order or peace and inhumane acts upon citizens was the norm with religious, political, or military police acting as the law. Policing was unstable and unorganized. Citizens took the law into their own hands and served as judge, jury, and executioner. There was not such a thing as being “innocent until proven guilty.” If the community believed an individual was guilty of a crime then the community would handle the offense themselves. American policing stems from the English heritage; crime prevention and control, preventive

Violent crime in this territory started up vigilantes. Their purpose was to bring justice to the Montana mining areas, but they used lawless methods to enforce their ideas.

Fred is drunk and driving his dad’s car. Fred is a 21 year old student at Columbia College. Fred rams into a parked car at 10th and Rogers. Thinking no one saw him; Fred moves his car and parks it on an adjacent lot. He sprints to his dorm room in Miller Hall. A neighbor saw the wreck and Fred running to the dorm. Police are called and they arrive ten minutes after the wreck. The officers see several empty beer cans and a bottle of tequila (half full) in the front seat. The tags are traced to Fred’s dad, who is called by police. Dad says that Fred is a student at Columbia College. Police run Fred's record and determine that he has two prior DWIs within the past five years. The third DWI in 10 years is a felony. Police contact

During the times of the riots, the Los Angeles Police Department played a significant role in the uprising of the event. After the video went viral of the four police officers brutally beating King, they were found not guilty of their crime. As there was specific evidence displayed for the jury, they still acquitted all four officers. Less than three hours after the verdict was announced, protesting and rebelling occurred. The verdict regarding the four police officers sparked the riots as Los Angeles citizens were not satisfied with the jury’s decision. Citizens were shocked by the response and did not agree with making police brutality seem acceptable. In an interview, Jody David Armour, a criminal justice and law professor at the University of Southern California, said, “there was ocular proof of what happened. It seemed compelling. And yet, we saw a verdict that told us we couldn't trust our lying eyes. That what we thought was open and shut was really “a reasonable expression of police control' toward a black motorist” (Sastry). From Armour’s own experience, he believes the police and the jury did not make the correct decision. The majority of the people who lived in South Central Los Angeles at the time did. People should feel protected by the police, however, no one within the city did. How can they when police officers are getting away with harming their own citizens?

Admittedly, there are holes in the government that vigilantism can fill quickly and effectively. The punishment set by the judge and jury can be seens as too lenient in the eyes of many. There are disparities between the number of people arrested in different age, race, and gender demographics that do not accurately reflect the numbers of actual crimes committed. In short, there is a bias present in the execution of the law that renders some to statistically more likely to be imprisoned. Overall, in the United States, “African Americans are incarcerated in state prisons at a rate that is 5.1 times the imprisonment of whites” and “Latinos are imprisoned at a rate that is 1.4 times the rate of whites” (The Sentencing Project). Vigilantes can

The use of vigilante justice is illegal but, at times it can be understood. Vigilante justice is considered legal when dealing with it as self-defense.. The term vigilante justice means someone has gone outside the law to carry out a punishment for a crime. In other words vigilante justice means that a citizen has taken justice into their own hands. One of the defining elements of vigilantism is a response that involves violence that exceeds the legitimate use of force in self-defense. These people who take justice into their own hands are called a vigilante.

A theoretical perspective in the field of criminology that addresses power differentials, inequalities and hierarchies as the explanations of crime is known as critical criminology. In the making and enforcement of law, critical theoretical perspectives are helpful in the reduction of crime by reducing the social, economical and political disparities in a social agency. Critical criminology actually provides a huge framework for the discussion of many other approaches followed in criminology like conflict theory, post-modernism and peacemaking criminology etc.

In recent years, society has heard cases of police brutality at an increasingly shocking rate, thus creating a sense of distrust among communities towards police officers and other authority figures. As the first line of defense against crimes such as home invasions or crimes against persons, police officers are expected to be an ally towards victims; however, it seems that society is now viewing officers as the perpetrators of crimes as opposed to the protectors. This has already posed an issue because community members are choosing not to seek police help when needed, and when they do decide to seek help, forgoing police assistance results in being uncertain of where else to go.

Do you believe in vigilantism? Do you believe in criminals and outlaws being punished for their crimes in the name of justice? What if you knew someone who was so close to you, you would do whatever it took to find those responsible for the pain they caused and punish them in the name of justice. Would you walk down the path of a vigilante and help bring about an end to their tyranny? Vigilantism can be looked at as crime if you look at it in a negative way, or it can be looked at in a positive way. Many vigilantes help make the world a better place every day by doing away with the evil people in this world who kidnap, rape, murder, and loot people in the streets. Vigilantism is justified because the vigilantes help make the world a better

Just as there are many types of crimes, there are also many explanations for crime. The three frames of reference for explanations of crimes are the classical criminology approach, the positivist criminology approach, and the behavior of law. The most effective approach to explaining crime is the positivist approach since uncontrollable factors such as the environment, socialization, and education can make a person more prone to committing crimes.