Description

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A form of subtle vigilantism threatens to undermine the justice system and is eroding community trust in law enforcement.

A pervasive and destructive problem is afflicting our current justice system, eroding community confidence in law enforcement. "Shadow vigilantism" is a vicious cycle in which ordinary people, as well as criminal justice officials, are so fed up with the system's failures that they distort and subvert the system to force it to do the justice that it seems reluctant to do on its own. The effects of this lack of trust are pervasive and pernicious: citizens refuse to report a crime or help investigators; jurors refuse to indict or convict; and officials manipulate a system that is perceived to be unreliable. This downward spiral eventually undermines the moral authority of law enforcement and creates widening rifts in the community.

This book examines many examples of how the community has responded when the justice system is perceived to fail, including the infamous murder of Emmett Till, which became a cause that spurred on the NAACP and the civil rights movement; the Lavender Panthers, which formed in response to gay bashing during the 1980s; the Crown Heights Maccabees, a neighborhood watch group that successfully reduced neighborhood crime when the police failed to do so; the Animal Liberation Front, which struck back at institutions for perceived abuses to animals; Operation Perverted Justice, an organization that used online chat rooms to out pedophiles by publicizing their personal information; and many others.

Such examples highlight the importance of upholding a justice system that works to provide justice for all and is not perceived to condone legal technicalities that overturn just punishment, judicial rules that suppress evidence and let serious offenders go, and other actions that undermine public trust in the system.

About the Author

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Paul H. Robinson is the Colin S. Diver Professor of Law at the University of Pennsylvania and one of the world's leading criminal law scholars. Robinson has published articles in virtually all of the top law reviews, lectured in more than a hundred cities and twenty-seven countries, and had his writings appear in thirteen languages. A former federal prosecutor and counsel for the US Senate Subcommittee on Criminal Laws and Procedures, he was the lone dissenter when the US Sentencing Commission promulgated the current federal sentencing guidelines. He is the author or editor of fifteen books, including the standard lawyer's reference on criminal law defenses, three Oxford monographs on criminal law theory, a highly regarded criminal law treatise, and an innovative case studies course book.

Sarah M. Robinson works as a writer and researcher. She obtained a masters in counseling while serving as a sergeant in the army. Currently she works as a researcher and an author of nonfiction. She is the coauthor (with Paul H. Robinson) of Pirates, Prisoners and Lepers: Lessons from Life Outside the Law, and has two more books in production.

Praise For…

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“Using superbly evocative case studies, Shadow Vigilantes is a strikingly original catalog and analysis of vigilante behavior by ordinary citizens and criminal justice officials that occurs when the law fails to deliver its promises of protection and justice. This book will change your view about criminal justice and how to improve it.”
 
—Stephen J. Morse, Ferdinand Wakeman Hubbell Professor of Law, and professor of psychology and law in psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania

“The police leave a community unprotected. The rules let a guilty defendant walk free. A judge lets a convicted offender off with a slap on the wrist. These injustices don’t go unnoticed. Sometimes, in response, citizens become classic vigilantes, acting outside the criminal justice system, taking the law into their own hands. More often, they become shadow vigilantes, flouting the system’s rules in an attempt to achieve justice from within. Alas, the vigilante impulse to do retail justice usually ends up producing wholesale injustice. Paul H. Robinson and Sarah M. Robinson offer a unique and amazing collection of compelling real-life stories. The lesson is simple but profound. The criminal justice system’s first order of business should be to do justice and secure its moral credibility. This is a riveting read.”
 
—Stephen P. Garvey, professor of law, Cornell Law School

“Until I read this stimulating book on shadow vigilantes, I had not given the subject much thought. Now, I can stop pondering the idea that such a distorted system might be called for when traditional law enforcement breaks down and the criminal justice system crumbles (Venezuela, some parts of Mexico, Zimbabwe, etc.). [The authors] point out that there has been a long line of vigilante groups that could fairly claim their conduct to be morally justified, albeit technically illegal. Yet, while the public might be tempted to grab the pitchforks and torches, the authors say this would only lead to more lawlessness. Clearly written with challenging precepts and thought-provoking ideas, this book makes you consider the following: if the vigilante is successful in staying within the bounds of moral justification, why is apprehending ‘bad guys’ a practice predictably ending in a downward spiral of criminality?”
 
—Robert H. Jordan, retired anchor/reporter, WGN-TV, Chicago, and author of Murder in the News: An Inside Look at How Television Covers Crime