Mob Justice?

C

CounslerCoffee

Registered Senior Member
Caloocan mob kills robber
One of two alleged robbers was brutally killed after an angry mob caught up with him shortly after he stabbed a taxi driver during a heist in Caloocan City on Saturday night.

The police said the man, who remains unidentified, suffered a fractured skull and a stab wound in the chest. Probers said the fatality was about 35 years old, fair skin complexion, medium build and five-feet, six inches tall.
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Article - ABC News

It seems that mobs can dispense justice faster than the US Supreme Court, is this an acceptable form of behavior for a civilized society? Is it fair for a mob to decide who lives and dies?

I guess I brought this up because of the current “mob killings” in Iraq. If a society is to be civilized, then it cannot have mob rule. People are wrongly killed, but in this case I’d say they were right.

-- The Grand Dragon Gizzard
 
I think "mob justice" is best averted, avoided, or intervened upon by capable authorities. Group dynamics tend to create a de facto entity that is singular and primal rather than individual and critical. People seem to suspend their critical thinking and logic functions as well as their personal and cultural values (though the latter might be exaggerated rather than suspended) in favor of brutality and anger.

Perhaps this is a result of "safety in numbers" when it comes to owning responsibility for individual actions -the group is responsible and no single individual. Perhaps it is a desire to show bravado or find a status within the group. But just looking at a group of teens in various settings like classrooms, malls, etc. will show that, as a group, behaviors are far different than as individuals.

I think it's likely that one or more of the participants of the taxi driver's avengers will experience some doubt of his actions at some later point.

Also, the mob might react with exaggerated cultural value, such as an angry mob attacking the first representative of an outside culture they find in revenge of some perceived injustice. The mob's perception of the injustice might be completely fallacious, but their actions will have lasting consequences.
 
"The group IQ is that of the person with the lowest IQ divided by the number of people in the group". I forget who said it, but it's not far from the truth. As SkinWalker said, we suspend more complex thinking.
CounslerCoffee, I'd say it's not acceptable. Sure, this time they got it right. But the mob is easily led and without more complex thinking, oodles can go wrong. On the other hand, of course, it does happen, and it's not particularly damaging in small amounts, I suppose, but it can't be advocated.
On the subject of Iraqi 'mob killings' I think you can hardly compare the two situations, because of the atmosphere in Iraq at the moment, but again: not acceptable. They have to be drastically lessened, but in that case, they're symptoms of a larger problem.
 
Do you believe that you could fairly evaluate the evidence on someone that raped and killed someone you love? I know that I could not. That is one of the major reasons for law is to codify revenge. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth is one of the earlier laws. If you think a one in eight false conviction rate for Texas death penalty is bad you should check out the rates for mob justice. Even if it is only one false death it really sucks if the person being collateral damage is you
 
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