Tuesday, September 9, 2014

VIGILANTE JUSTICE IS THE ONLY KIND OF JUSTICE WORTH HAVING

by Mr. Mean-Spirited
 

If you can't take the law into your own hands, then the law isn't worth obeying. If you can’t deal justice yourself, then there is no certainty that things will ever be put right.

All governments fear vigilantes; not because the officials are afraid that there might be a periodic miscarriage of justice (after all, the state-run legal system has plenty of that); instead, the establishment is frightened of vigilantes because they threaten the job security of the bureaucrats. A judge doesn’t care about making the right decision; instead, the magistrate is worried about protecting his lifetime appointment.

A vigilante no more needs official authority to do justice than an ordinary believer needs ecclesiastical authority to say a prayer. Authority is merely the way that an entrenched hierarchy justifies their own position.

Vigilante justice is effective justice. Vigilantes deal in direct justice, an immediate type of restitution doesn't need to be mediated through a bureaucracy. You don't need your basic human need for retribution to be dissipated and diluted through the institutions of the state. You don't need some government employee like a judge to tell you what is right and proper. Vigilantes instinctively know what needs to be done – they don’t need a legal precedent to tell them what is just. Unlike your local police force, you won’t see any incompetence at a public lynching. Vigilante justice is just common sense through the barrel of a gun.

Vigilante justice is swift. Citizens have no desire to waste money keeping a prisoner on death row for a couple decades. Restitution is quick in the vigilante system. It saves time if a vigilante court would also carry out the execution that same day. Vigilante justice does not keep the victim waiting in suspense for redress.

Vigilante justice is dead certain. When citizens take care of lawbreakers, no evidence is excluded because of some technicality – the eye-witness testimony of a victim is good enough. Vigilante justice is not a matter of finding the best lawyer; instead, justice is merely a matter of eliminating the criminal. It is not necessary to create a prison industry if the vigilantes are allowed to do justice. 

Vigilante justice doesn’t need attorneys. You don’t need to maintain a parasitical class of lawyers in a vigilante system; you don’t need legal representatives whose only role is to muddle the proceedings. You don’t need an advocate if you can take care of things yourself. Vigilante justice does not need a mediator.  

If someone steals one of your prized possessions, it really isn’t necessary to involve the state. If the injured party is permitted to attain retribution directly from the criminal, harmony can be restored without creating a criminal-justice establishment that requires a constant supply of fresh victims. Government only manages to insure that restitution remains impossible. 

Vigilante justice does not create a police state. Armed vigilantes dispense the truest form of justice. When the state fines a criminal, the money does not go to the individual whose property has been pilfered; instead, that money goes to the government, not the actual victim. Vigilante justice does not require the creation of an ornate administrative complex.

Vigilantes don’t have fragile self-esteem like members of a police union; vigilantes don’t constantly need to be told what a great job they are doing like government officers. You don’t find vigilantes patting each other on the back and calling each other “special” like secret police agents. Taking justice into your own frees society from all the sanctimony self-righteousness of law-enforcement bureaucrats.

Even though crime might be declining in the country, the criminal-justice industry is always growing. If the police cannot steal enough resources from genuine criminals, they will find a way to extort money from peaceful citizens. When the vigilantes seize power, the law-enforcement institutions will not able to steal property through asset forfeiture, and the police officers will not be able fill their quotas with bogus arrests. The state will not benefit from the actions of the criminal when citizens take the law into their own hands. Vigilante justice does not enrich a law-enforcement industry.

Vigilante justice is focused on the individual, not the institution. The person who is directly wronged is able to attain redress personally in a vigilante system. When a murderer needs to be punished, a family member is able to extract the desired revenge himself. Vigilante justice is personal and direct.

Vigilante justice is not corrupt. Unlike a judge on the take, vigilante justice cannot be bought. Vigilantes don’t take bribes to let the criminal get away with murder. You don’t need your restitution to be interrupted by a prosecutor’s need for campaign contributions. Vigilante justice may be brutal, but vigilante justice is not done in back-room deals.  

Vigilante justice is without mercy. Vigilante justice won't be distorted by bleeding hearts feeling sorry for the criminal. Vigilantes don’t need to give the criminal any second chances; they get things right the first time. Compassion is not wasted on those who do not deserve it. Vigilante justice is pure and without leniency. Vigilantes do not go around making exceptions.

So what if the posse might occasion ally string-up the wrong person? Human life is enormously over-rated and the world is exceedingly overpopulated. Even if the vigilantes might occasionally make a mistake – at least they will always err on the side of giving the world a bit more breathing room.  

The state justice system needs professional criminals to keep themselves in business. Experienced lawyers require experienced outlaws. Only vigilante justice will eliminate the criminal class and the law-enforcement complex at the same time.   

The Old Western idea of the rifle above the door is the most efficient system of justice ever devised.

5 comments:

  1. Oh no! Definitely not! There's no justice 'worth' having, if it involves injustice. Any mob, including the lynch mob, is a criminal class.
    So, why would I prefer my neighbors to decide whether I look like a delinquent or pedophile or witch, over authorities that I need to draw the attention of first? Why would you want the kind of judge that cares about punishing you?

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    1. Why? Because ordinary citizens are always going to be preferable to the government; I’d rather be able to take justice into my own hands than be taxed to support a bureaucratic system that could harm me. My neighbor might be an asshole, but he isn’t going to be groping and fondling everyone who passes through the airport like the NSA. My neighbor might be a nosy bastard, but he isn’t going to be recording the conversation of everyone in the village like the NSA. My neighbor might be a greedy bastard, but he isn’t going to be shaking-down clients of prostitutes in a sting operation. My neighbor might be one moralistic bastard, but he isn’t going to set-up a sobriety checkpoint downtown. And if the lynch mob does find a pedophile, they are going to deal with the problem once and for all – not release the pervert back in the community in 10 years like professional law enforcement, merely to give to give themselves a bit of repeat business. Vigilantes are not going to fabricate a terrorist conspiracy in order to keep themselves employed. And when vigilantes do make a mistake, that error only affects one unfortunate person, but governmental injustice afflicts the entire population.

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    2. Vigilante "justice" does have that tendency to err mainly against the least conforming elements. A collective that seeks to justify its actions will seek out more victims, to prove its devotion to the greater good. I rather have the number of such collectives small. If the "justice system" afflicts the entire population, how much worse wouldn't it be if the entire population afflicts the entire population?

      And your neighbor being a bastard, he is going to be the eye-witness to a false accusation against you. And then you die. Not by needles. Not rendered unconscious. But beaten, hung, hacked, emasculated, burnt, or if you're lucky, shot halfway through that generous dispensation of "justice".

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  2. It is true our legal/criminal justice system has grown out of the proportion. In my view, the complete elimination of the system is neither possible nor desirable. The realistic expectation is to decelerate or maybe even reverse its growth. It can be done by exercising our civil rights, such as jury nullification, to the fullest extent possible. I am aware that jury nullification will not solve the problem, but it least gives some power for an ordinary citizen to throw a wrench into the machinery. Unfortunately, the majority of the people will not nullify because of ignorance, apathy, indifference or the thrill of Schadenfreude. Too often, people give up some of their rights voluntarily.

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  3. First, you claimed that you're evil. Next, you vigilante justice. Are you tryin' to be as bad as the people who you hate?

    I'm all for vigilante justice. but not in the way that you are.

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