Public support for vigilantism and confidence in criminal justice

The modern state characterizes itself by only permitting force that is used in preservation and enforcement of the law. The very existence of a criminal justice system is commonly justified by contrasting it with the unjustifiability of citizens retaliating against wrongdoers. Despite this, there have been numerous cases of vigilantism that have induced public support rather than condemnation.

What does it mean when the public supports citizens who deal with crime outside of the law? Does it signify that the legitimacy of the criminal justice system is at stake? Little is known about actual determinants of support for those who take the law into their own hands. Despite its relevance from both a social and legal perspective, this phenomenon has been relatively overlooked in the literature. We do not know what public support for vigilantism constitutes, what causes it and what implications it might have for society.

We conducted two experimental studies using vignettes. We measured the influence of confidence in the criminal justice system on support for vigilantism, as well as that of situational factors. To assess the latter, we varied characteristics such as the response of the criminal justice system to the precipitating crime and vigilante violence. The findings of both studies reveal that confidence indeed affects support for vigilantism: respondents with a higher level of confidence were more outraged at the act of vigilantism, felt less empathy with the vigilante, and had a stronger desire for punishment of the vigilante. However, situational characteristics also had a substantial influence: people were sensitive to the situational variation. Support for vigilantism is thus not necessarily rooted in a lack of confidence in the criminal justice system. We additionally demonstrate the importance of a differentiated measure of support: people can for instance empathize with a vigilante while also desiring punishment.