The Morality of Vigilantism
Episode: 15 April 2012, Question 2
Where is the line between justice and vigilantism? When is it moral to take the law into your own hands – meaning pursuing, detaining, and/or punishing criminals as a private citizen? Suppose that you know – without a shadow of a doubt – that some person committed a serious crime against you or a loved one. If the justice system cannot punish the person due to some technicality, is it wrong for you to do so? If you're caught, should a judge or jury punish you, as if you'd committed a crime against an innocent person?
My Answer, In Brief: The vigilante is not an agent of justice, but a threat to innocents and to the foundations of civilized society.
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- Duration: 15:48
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Relevant Links
- "The Objectivist Ethics" in The Virtue of Selfishness
Topics
- Anarchism, Crime, Ethics, Government, Law, Rights
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