Public support for vigilantism, confidence in police and police responsiveness

Abstract

This article provides an empirical test of the common assumption that public support for vigilantism is affected by confidence in police. Aside from assessing the role of diffuse (general) confidence in police, we also tested whether police response on a situational level affects how the public views an act of vigilantism. Respondents (N 0385) were presented with a vignette about vigilantism. Using an experimental between-subjects design, we varied police responsiveness (high/low) to precipitating crime as well as vigilante violence (high/low). Diffused confidence in police was a significant predictor of support for vigilantism. Additionally, both experimental factors played an important role: low police responsiveness and low vigilante violence led to more support for vigilantism. Citizens are thus sensitive to situational variation when judging a crime. Our findings also emphasise the importance of police action on a local level for the formation of public opinion.

Vigilantism in Ghana: Trends, Victim Characteristics, and Reported Reasons

“…However, the rising trend could also reflect an increasing attention to issues related to vigilantism in the media, perhaps due to the increased media presence over the past decade. Regardless, the finding implies that ‘state monopoly over the legitimate use of force’ is being threatened in the Ghanaian context (Haas, de Keijser and Bruinsma 2014, p.226), possibly due to the presence of an environment that disinhibits citizens from taking the laws into their own hands (Tankebe 2009).…”

“…For instance, Johnston (1996) described vigilantism as a social movement involving premeditated acts by private citizens with the use or threat of violence in response to the real, perceived, or potential deviation from an established norm by individuals or groups, and aimed at offering public assurance of order. Haas, de Keijser and Bruinsma (2014) also defined vigilantism as: ‘a planned criminal act, carried out by a private citizen in response to (the perceived threat of) a crime committed by a private citizen, targeting the (alleged) perpetrator of that crime’ (p.226). While the notion of planning or premeditation is emphasised in these definitions of vigilantism, there is recognition that vigilante acts may also be spontaneous as in the case of mob justice (Martin 2010; Moncada 2017).…”

“…Similarly, Goldstein, (2003) observed that, in Bolivia, the perception of police corruption was linked to public mistrust resulting in resistance to police attempts to intervene in stopping the lynching of suspects. A number of studies employing surveys and vignettes have linked public recourse to, or support for, vigilantism to perceived corruption, low responsiveness, mistrust, and ineffectiveness of the police and the justice system (for example, Haas, de Heijser and Bruinsma 2014; Nivette 2006; Tankebe 2009; Tankebe and Asif 2016). For example, Tankebe's (2009) study on vigilante self‐help in Ghana found a statistically significant relationship between perception of low police trustworthiness and public support for vigilantism.…”

Going Outside the Law: The Role of the State in Shaping Attitudes to Private Acts of Violence

“…Standard intensity questions of fear of falling victim of crime were used (see Farrall et al, 2009 Haas et al (2013) similarly linked 'diffuse support' for the police (specifically, generalized trust and confidence in the police) with support for vigilantism in the Netherlands (see also Haas et al, 2012).…”

La gestión represiva de la violencia en el año 2015 en El Salvador

“…Es comprensible que cuando los ciudadanos recurren a actos ilegítimos en respuesta al crimen, o toman la justicia por sus propias manos, esto sea considerado como una señal de que la confianza en la policía está en juego (E. Haas, Keijser;Bruinsma, 2014, p. 224).…”