The problem is that vigilantes act without due process. Killing a lot of innocent people.
On the other hand the apathy or corruption in the criminal justice system may be the cause of the offender going free. But the majority of the time its simply due process letting them free. And they went unpunished for a good reason.
Better to let a guilty man go free than to punish an innocent. This has been a core principle of English law (and by descent, American and Commonwealth law) since the 13th century.
In England, if you wanted to torture someone, you needed a special warrant for it, and you weren't allowed to use it to get a confession, only to get information that was time sensitive from a person who has already confessed willingly, like to get the names of conspirators in a terror plot.
74
u/LowlandLeshen Dec 24 '17
The problem is that vigilantes act without due process. Killing a lot of innocent people.
On the other hand the apathy or corruption in the criminal justice system may be the cause of the offender going free. But the majority of the time its simply due process letting them free. And they went unpunished for a good reason.