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A citizen's arrest is an arrest made by a person who is not acting as a sworn law-enforcement official.
Vigilante: a member of a self-appointed group of citizens who undertake law enforcement in their community
Isn't citizens arrest and being a vigilante the same thing?
| Yes | 7 | |
| No | 14 | |
| Other | 3 |
Citizens arrest is a vigilante act, but not all vigilante acts involve citizens arrest.
Yes that is my point. Everyone views being a vigilante as bad. However this act is being a vigilante.
I'm all for supporting vigilante justice. Personally I think a more anarchist society would be better. People would be kept in line by each other because they would know they will get shot if they fuck around rather than because they are afraid of the government. The only reason anarchy cannot work is because someone would eventually take over and they cycle would repeat.
I think citizen arrests are very far from ideal. The ideal is a government that does its job properly. I agree with the sailor - I don't trust any old randomer to decide what is right and what is wrong, and then decide what the sentence will be. There's a reason we have a justice system; because a democratically elected government who makes the laws which are used to decide cases by an independent judiciary is the fairest way we know to conduct justice.
The biggest problem with this train of thinking is who decides what is right and wrong?
A skinhead would just eliminate those he hates and call it social justice. Some white dude would shoot a black for being in his neighborhood, even though he had a legitimate reason for being there.
Without the laws and rules being controlled by a uniform, regulated, law enforcement agency, society would fall into disarray.
It is a shame, but humans are just not able to live together in peace without rules, without it bringing out the very worst in them.
That's a very good question. I don't know what the answer is and I'm not going to pretend I do.
I think the difference, at least as the words are normally used, is that a "vigilante" goes out looking for trouble, where as a citizen's arrest could be made by someone who just happened to be there. Holding down a burglar who you happened to see robbing a neighbor's house until the police show up, is technically "undertaking law enforcement" I suppose, but it's not the same as patrolling the city like Batman.