The Negative Effects Of Vigilantes

Since the beginning of civilization, men have robbed and killed. To counter this, the civilizations established laws and punishment for breaking those laws. The punishments for the breaking of these laws were crude, and they usually involved an eye for an eye style of punishment; however, enforcing these laws was generally left to whoever had the opportunity. Nowadays the enforcement of laws is designated to government employees with legal authority; however, civilians sometimes take justice into their own hands. When this happens it is called vigilantism, the term “vigilante” is often used with a negative connotation. This is because when vigilantism is carried out in a way that is not righteous, lawful, or proficient it can …show more content…
Although the majority of vigilantes fight to help their cause directly, unless they are extremely covert, they also indirectly affect their cause. This is accomplished because the consequences of their actions affect the psyche of their community. Even if they are extremely covert they will most likely affect the psyche of their community, whether they want to or they don’t want to. Rampant crime in a given area will surely make the community fearful, just as a reckless vigilante who kills for his personal ideals of justice will. A people under oppression from crime or tyranny will surely feel helpless, especially if those criminals that perpetrate crime or the tyrant that perpetrates the tyranny is not held under check or is not served justice. Such was the case in the late 30s and early 40s in and around Germany, where Hitler and the Nazi party invaded nations, started wars, and slaughtered millions, virtually unopposed. The populations of Europe either joined the Nazi’s regime or they hid from it, for the military power of Germany was vastly greater than that of Poland and Finland. However, when the allies, nations with power able to rival the Nazis, declared war upon the Third Reich it gave the oppressed peoples of Europe a hope that they may be freed. Of course, the armies of these nations, the allies, were not vigilantes, but they affected the people in the same way they gave hope to those desperately in need of it. Just as the armies of the United Kingdom and the United States freed and restored hope to the masses of Europe, a righteous and proficient vigilante can free the citizens of a city oppressed by unobstructed crime, and give those citizens hope that they can live free from