[chroma]

So the police didn't do any detective work, didn't help with the sting operation, and they didn't punish the thief. It seems like it'd be more fruitful to get a few of your friends and solve the problem yourself. It's not like the thief is going to go to the cops.

[aidenn0]

> It's not like the thief is going to go to the cops.

That's a rather bold statement. A friend was sexually assaulted in a public bathroom, punched the person who did it, and then my friend had assault charges filed on him by that person. My friend was able to plea to non-criminal charges, but it certainly wasn't a pleasant experience.

[vorpalhex]

One of the hallmarks of a justice system is the presence of a neutral judge and a defense attorney.

Mob violence is most certainly not just.

[chroma]

I agree with you. The legal system's job is to substitute for vigilantes. In this case the legal system doesn't provide certain services adequately, so the incentives favor vigilantism.

[curtisblaine]

Also the presence of an executive part of the government which enforces law. If that is missing, the justice system is broken just the same. I don't understand why often we find it unfair when mob justice is administered (and it is unfair) but we don't find unfair that the police refuses to administer justice.

[michael1999]

The police already foreclosed any access to your justice via budget priority. Now we're discussing various flavours of injustice.

[kelnos]

Vigilantism isn't ideal, but what else is a person to do when law enforcement refuses to do its job? Not sure "just let it go" is a great answer to that.

[nitwit005]

In that case the US didn't have a justice system until 1963, as that's when people gained a right to a public defender: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gideon_v._Wainwright

Although since the states rarely fund it adequately, you often basically don't have one.

[marcosdumay]

What, if you take the GP's comment as true, is very troublesome. But you didn't invalidate the GP in any way.