Montana Vigilantes, 1863–1870
Montana Vigilantes, 1863–1870

Author: Mark C. Dillon

Publisher: University Press of Colorado

Published: 2018-10-22

Total Pages: 489

ISBN-13: 0874219205

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A history and legal analysis of vigilantism in Montana in the 1860s, from a state Supreme Court justice and legal historian. Historians and novelists alike have described the vigilantism that took root in the gold-mining communities of Montana in the mid-1860s, but Mark C. Dillon is the first to examine the subject through the prism of American legal history, considering the state of criminal justice and law enforcement in the western territories and also trial procedures, gubernatorial politics, legislative enactments, and constitutional rights. Using newspaper articles, diaries, letters, biographies, invoices, and books that speak to the compelling history of Montana’s vigilantism in the 1860s, Dillon examines the conduct of the vigilantes in the context of the due process norms of the time. He implicates the influence of lawyers and judges who, like their non-lawyer counterparts, shaped history during the rush to earn fortunes in gold. Dillon’s perspective as a state Supreme Court justice and legal historian uniquely illuminates the intersection of territorial politics, constitutional issues, corrupt law enforcement, and the basic need of citizenry for social order. This readable and well-directed analysis of the social and legal context that contributed to the rise of Montana vigilante groups will be of interest to scholars and general readers interested in Western history, law, and criminal justice for years to come. “[Justice Dillon’s] book reads like a Western. Dillon masterfully sets the stage for the rise of the Montana vigilantes by bringing alive the people who created and lived in [mining] towns. There are heroes, villains, shady characters, and more than a few politicians, businessmen, lawyers and judges. What sets Dillon’s book apart from historical texts and fictional tales is that he provides legal analyses and explanations of the trials, sentences, due process and procedures of the day . . . And shed[s] grisly light on the details of the hangings. Dillon’s unique background as an attorney and judge and his downright dogged research are what makes this complex story so engaging. The prose is clear, crisp and gets to the point. . . . The book is satisfying because it answers contemporary nagging questions about the law regarding the vigilantes and the hangings.” —Gregory Zenon, Brooklyn Barrister “Dillon’s analysis of the vigilantes of Bannack, Alder Gulch, and Helena in Montana Territory is the most detailed, insightful, and legally nuanced yet produced. . . . This book is a model for historians to follow when dealing with 19th-century criminal proceedings. Establishing historical context includes examining the laws in books as well as the law in action.” —Gordon Morris Bakken, Great Plains Research

Avenging Child Sex Abuse
Avenging Child Sex Abuse

Author: Joshua Long

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2023-07-21

Total Pages: 386

ISBN-13: 1000914623

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This book explores the subjects of child sex abuse, flaws in the justice system, cultural support for vigilantism, prison violence, and the socio-legal philosophy of punishment. Child sex abuse leaves a scar that lasts a lifetime. Can any legal punishment balance the scales of justice? Can sex offenders ever repay their debt to society, or more importantly, to the victim? For some victims of this traumatic abuse, the debt remains unpaid, and it accrues interest. Vigilantes seek to avenge child victims by hunting down sex offenders in the community. Sometimes prisoners in correctional facilities conspire with rogue correctional officers to mete out their own form of “convict justice” on people who hurt children. While their motives and methods differ, these outraged citizens seek retribution through violence because they are disgusted with a justice system they believe shows extraordinary leniency toward child sex abusers. Whether this violence occurs in the community or in jail cells across the country, the message these vigilantes broadcast is the same: if the government won’t seek retribution, they will. The story is told through a series of case studies based on interviews with real-life vigilantes, most of whom are serving life sentences for their crimes. For the first time, vigilantes have been given a chance to tell their own stories. Patrick Drum, Steven Sandison, Joseph Druce, Jeremy Moody, Jon Watson, James Fairbanks, and others have shared their personal insights to help us get inside the vigilante mind. For some readers, these accounts will humanize people considered to be simply murderers. For others, it will demystify the popular portrayals of vigilantes in our society.

Vigilante Politics
Vigilante Politics

Author: H. Jon Rosenbaum

Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press

Published: 2016-11-11

Total Pages: 304

ISBN-13: 1512806331

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Vigilante politics is an organized effort outside legitimate channels to suppress or eradicate any threats to the status quo. Simply defined, it means deliberately taking the law into one's own hands. The history of the United States is filled with many examples of "establishment violence." This form of violence was evident when ranchers lynched the cattle rustler and when the early Ku Klux Klan terrorized African Americans back into their "proper position." It is also apparent when urban community groups execute drug pushers and when political parties resort to breaking and entering, electronic surveillance, sabotage, and seduction. Establishment violence is a global phenomenon and not restricted to the United States. In Brazil the Esquadāro da Morte (Death Squad) executes individuals suspected of being habitual criminals. The Protestant B Specials in Northern Ireland abused Catholics. Strong anti-Chinese feelings spawned vigilante groups in Southeast Asia. Other vigilante bands have included the Society of Muslim Brothers in Egypt, the White Hand of Guatemala, the Jewish Defense League, and the Nazi Brown Shirts. Every society that is holding together contains groups that value their place in the system (even if it is modest) and prefer things as they are. If they believe that criminals are escaping punishment because of corruption or leniency, or that people who seek a change in social status and approved values a regaining power, or that the legitimate authorities are unable or unwilling to preserve the present order, they frequently take violent action to defend their position. These are the vigilantes, and this book considers their brand of "establishment violence" in the widest sense. Their goals, tactics, personalities, and place in a country's general political configuration are thoroughly analyzed by the historians, political scientists, sociologists, and psychologists who have contributed to this volume. Part I is devoted to theory and offers a typology of vigilantism; Part II covers vigilante episodes in the United States. Part III places vigilantism in a comparative perspective, with examples from Asia, Africa, and Europe.

The Vigilante Thriller
The Vigilante Thriller

Author: Cary Edwards

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2022-03-24

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13: 1501364111

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This is a detailed examination of vigilantism in 1970s American film, from its humble niche beginnings as a response to relaxing censorship laws to its growth into a unique subgenre of its own. Cary Edwards explores the contextual factors leading to this new cycle of films ranging from Joe (1970) and The French Connection (1971) to Dirty Harry (1971) and Taxi Driver (1976), all of which have been challenged by contemporary critics for their gratuitous, copycat-inspiring violence. Yet close analysis of these films reveals a recurring focus on the emerging moral panic of the 1970s, a problematisation of Law and Order's role in contemporary society, and an increasing awareness of the impossibility of American myths of identity.

The Roots of Rough Justice
The Roots of Rough Justice

Author: Michael J. Pfeifer

Publisher: University of Illinois Press

Published: 2011-04-01

Total Pages: 162

ISBN-13: 0252093097

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In this deeply researched prequel to his 2006 study Rough Justice: Lynching and American Society, 1874–1947, Michael J. Pfeifer analyzes the foundations of lynching in American social history. Scrutinizing the vigilante movements and lynching violence that occurred in the middle decades of the nineteenth century on the Southern, Midwestern, and far Western frontiers, The Roots of Rough Justice: Origins of American Lynching offers new insights into collective violence in the pre-Civil War era. Pfeifer examines the antecedents of American lynching in an early modern Anglo-European folk and legal heritage. He addresses the transformation of ideas and practices of social ordering, law, and collective violence in the American colonies, the early American Republic, and especially the decades before and immediately after the American Civil War. His trenchant and concise analysis anchors the first book to consider the crucial emergence of the practice of lynching of slaves in antebellum America. Pfeifer also leads the way in analyzing the history of American lynching in a global context, from the early modern British Atlantic to the legal status of collective violence in contemporary Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa. Seamlessly melding source material with apt historical examples, The Roots of Rough Justice tackles the emergence of not only the rhetoric surrounding lynching, but its practice and ideology. Arguing that the origins of lynching cannot be restricted to any particular region, Pfeifer shows how the national and transatlantic context is essential for understanding how whites used mob violence to enforce the racial and class hierarchies across the United States.

The Medic
The Medic

Author: Tracy Grimes

Publisher: Page Publishing Inc

Published: 2022-05-04

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13: 1645849279

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Bo Wakefield is a paramedic married to Beth, who is a physical therapist. They are enjoying their young marriage with their three dogs and kitten. They have the world by the tail, planning a family, and nothing can get in their way. That is until a series of killings start occurring in Pulaski County, Arkansas. The vigilante killer is killing all the perpetrators of the defenseless victims in Bo's district. Having already been arrested for suspicion, and with more evidence mounting and pointing to Bo, he is desperate to have the killer caught, so he hires J. P. Dayton, the best attorney/private investigator that money can buy, and together, they are in for the ride of their lives. Could a family massacre from twenty years ago hold the key to the identity of the vigilante killer? Bo seems to think so, but the detectives don't believe it. They are convinced that Bo is trying to transfer their attention off himself. Could the four-year-old lone survivor of the massacre, Jason Wesley Jones, have grown up to avenge his family's deaths and Bo just got caught in the cross fire? If so, where is he and who is he? Time is running out as the killer zeroes in on Bo and his wife.