Are Americans increasingly taking the law into their own hands?

WASHINGTON, January 8, 2014 — Instances of citizen vigilantism – citizens exercising law enforcement practices without legal authority – have been showing up in the media more frequently. Apparently a growing number of American citizens feel as if their law enforcement officials are not doing enough to prevent crime and do not want to solely rely on the government for their personal security.While violent crime in the U.S. is on the rise again for the first time after 2006 – 1.2 percent increase compared to 2012 after years of steep…

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TEMECULA: Guilty pleas in vigilante baseball bat attack

A Temecula father, his teen daughter and her friend have pleaded guilty in connection with the vigilante beating of a man the girl had accused of raping her. The father, David Ray Mills, 36, pleaded guilty Tuesday, Dec. 4, to being an accessory to the Jan. 13 attack at a Temecula park in which ____ ____ ____, 20, was beaten with a baseball bat. Mills was sentenced to four years’ probation and time served. Mills’ 16-year-old daughter, who was charged as an adult, pleaded guilty to assault and was sentenced…

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The Vigilante of Clallam County

On a morning last fall, Patrick Drum sat quietly in his black and white striped uniform and handcuffs as he awaited his fate. The sleeves of his top were short enough to reveal a tattoo reading “Win Some” on his right forearm and one reading “Lose Sum” on the left. From the court’s gallery where dozens of reporters and community members sat, he seemed barely to move as the families of the two men he had killed four months before came forward to speak. Full Article

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Canada: Father killed with one punch after being mistaken for a pedophile

MONTREAL – The Crown wants a six-year prison sentence for a 21-year-old man who killed a Montreal father with a single punch. The victim, Iqbal Ahmed, was simply trying to bring his wayward teen daughter home but other teens attacked him, thinking he was a pedophile. A judge will decide Francis Belanger’s fate in December following sentencing hearings that ended this week. Full Article

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REGISTERED CITIZEN BRUTALLY SLAIN IN ORANGE COUNTY

Editor’s Note: Bobby Ray Rainwater, a registered citizen, was brutally murdered on December 1 in the mobile home park in which he resided. According to the article below, police do not yet know the motive for the murder. Is this another case of vigilante violence? Slaying Victim ‘Nearly Decapitated’ Arraignment postponed for accused killer. Meanwhile, new details emerge in last week’s mobile-home park killing. ByPenny Arévalo December 5, 2011 The knife-wielding neighbor accused of killing Bobby Ray Rainwater won’t enter a plea until Jan. 6. At the request of Robert…

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