Vigilantism

Vigilantism is the unauthorized use of force by people who claim to enforce law or order. It bypasses public legal institutions in favor of private punishment or control.

Mob justice: Punishment or coercion imposed by a crowd without legal authority or due process. Crowds can carry out vigilantism through immediate, collective punishment.
Regulator–Modulator Theory: A criminological account that treats vigilantism as a response to perceived failures of formal social control. It explains vigilantism as both enforcing and reshaping local norms.
Rule of law: A principle that public power is exercised through publicly known laws applied consistently and reviewably. Vigilantism replaces legal accountability with self-appointed authority.
Racial terror: Violence used to intimidate and control people on the basis of race. Vigilante groups have used racial terror to enforce racial hierarchies outside the law.
Lynching: An extrajudicial killing by a group, historically often used to enforce racial hierarchy. Lynching is a lethal form of vigilante violence, especially in U.S. history.
Frontier justice: Extralegal punishment associated with frontier settings where formal law enforcement was limited. Frontier justice is a prominent historical setting for claims of vigilante authority.
Police: Public officials authorized to enforce laws and maintain order under legal constraints. Police exercise delegated state authority; vigilantes claim enforcement power without it.
Moral panic: A surge of public fear that a group or behavior threatens society's values or safety. Moral panics can cast targets as threats and make vigilante action seem justified.
Citizen's arrest: A detention made by a private person under legal authority granted in limited circumstances. Unlike vigilantism, a lawful citizen's arrest remains bounded by statute and legal review.
Ku Klux Klan: A white supremacist organization founded in the United States after the Civil War. The Klan used terror and self-appointed enforcement to preserve white political dominance.

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