People who take the law into their own hands to punish crime, even though they have no official authority to do so.
From Spanish 'vigilante' meaning 'watchman,' derived from Latin 'vigilans' (watchful), from 'vigilare' (to keep watch). The term entered English in the 1800s and originally referred to self-appointed law enforcers in frontier America.
Vigilante justice has created some of history's most tragic miscarriages—innocent people were hanged by mobs convinced of guilt. The word shows how desperation for safety can override the careful rules of actual justice.
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