Vigilante Defined

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Perpetrators Defined: Family, Friend, Acquaintance and Vigilante

If there is a family relationship between the victim and the perpetrator, then the perpetrator cannot be referred to as a vigilante; hence our tag "by Victim, Family or Friend" attached to the perp in the Murder blog,

One such case, and often confused, is the Alabama case of Jay Maynor, Raymond Earl Brooks and a child. see HERE. Where Brooks was killed by Maynor. The child previously molested by Brooks which caused his registry requirement was related to both Maynor and Brooks according to news reports:

See quotes from news reports:

Court documents indicate Maynor is a relative of the child Brooks pleaded guilty to sexually abusing in 2002. Brooks was convicted in an incident involving an 8-year-old girl. Brooks was convicted of sexual abuse in the first degree in 2002 in a case involving Maynor’s eight-year-old daughter.

Documents show Maynor was a witness against Brooks in a sexual abuse case involving his daughter in 2001. Police said the girl was eight at the time, but court records state she was seven.

ommy Drake, the attorney for Jay Maynor, says his client should not be charged with murder in the alleged killing of Raymond Brooks. Brooks is the man accused of molesting Maynor's relative.

Drake says Maynor and his family suffered great anguish and anxiety over the years since their relative was allegedly molested by Brooks.

In 2002, Raymond Brooks pleaded guilty to molesting a child and had to register as a sex offender. The child he was accused of molesting is related to both Raymond Brooks and Jay Maynor.

So a vigilante is one who has no known relationship to the the person killed/murdered, or a child if one is mentioned as part of the story.It is our policy to try to get different news stories about a case, because reporters often pick up bits and pieces of info which helps us to analyze circumstances.

If a child is part of the story then a vigilante also cannot be one who is, in some way, acquainted to the child. i.e., Acquaintance

History of Vigilante Definitions

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Vigilante

A vigilante is a person who ignores due process of law and enacts their own form of justice in response to a perception of insufficient response by the authorities.

Several groups and individuals have been labeled as vigilantes by various historians and media. Vigilantes have been central to several creative fictional works and are often depicted as being heroes and retaliatory against wrongdoers.

Etymology

The term vigilante is Spanish and Portuguese for "watchman" or "watcher, ultimately from Latin "vigilantem"- the present participle of "vigilare" (to watch). Its etymology is closely related to (though its meaning very different from) that of the term vigilance. Note that the term vigilantism is a derivative of vigilante, not of vigilant or vigilance. The term vigilante was introduced into English from the northeast United States. Vigilantism is generally frowned upon by official agencies (who would otherwise encourage vigilance on the part of citizens), especially when it gives way to criminal behavior on the part of the vigilante. Often seen in rapidly growing western towns, citizens sometimes choose vigilantism, capturing suspected criminals and punishing them without a trial.

Vigilantism: Our definitions clarified

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• Vigilantism: We have explained exactly what we consider vigilantism in the sections below:

  1) Vigilantism;
  2) Vigilantism by Media;
  3) Vigilantism by law; and
  4) Vigilantism by Police.

  In all we are speaking of an attack against some who was thought to have committed or was previously convicted of a sex crime of some sort.
  
  Vigilantism: Once the actual crime is over, then it is up to the laws of the day to punish for the criminal acts. Now, any actions (generally attacking type) towards persons convicted or accused of crimes, however subtle, which are not part of the court's sentence, carried out by someone who is not under the sentencing court's jurisdiction executing the judges sentence, gets into the world of vigilantism. Persons who exact their own form of personal hate and harm, however subtle, to those who have committed crimes or are accused of crimes, cross the line of being a vigilante.
  
  This definition EXCLUDES the natural feelings of a victim (and those close to the victim) which result from the crime; certainly these people are not vigilantes, unless they then act illegally. Remember, it is every person's constitutional right, "to remain silent, and not act." You are not required to love thy neighbor! See: "Vigilantes: Coming soon to a community near you," In the News: Forensic psychology, criminology, and psychology-law by Karen Franklin, PhD
  
  Vigilantism by Media: There is no problem with the media reporting on issues related to offenders, that falls under freedom of speech and the press. However there comes a time when the media crosses that line such as, naming all registrants individually when such is not necessary to raise the topic of the report. This is when the media becomes a vigilante, when they ignore the subtle consequences of their actions for the sake of sensationalism or ratings.
  

Cases tagged "by Vigilante/s," when solved, are re-tagged "by Vigilante-ID"

November 2016:

In our Sex Offenders Murdered blog when a person who has been killed or murdered, or accused of a sex offense and killed/murdered, and the article does not report who the perpetrator is we Tag that case "by Vigilante/s" until such time as the police investigate and solve the case.

Today, as the result of our periodic review of cases tagged "by Vigilante/s" we found incidents where the police have identified the person or persons who they believe have killed/murdered the offender, and we added a NEW Tag "by Vigilante-ID" replacing the old tag. BY clicking on that link those cases can be reviewed.

eAdvocate

Most Serious Vigilantism Cases: Murder, Attempted Murder, Brutalization, Arson, often locating target using Registry or Community Notification Information

Any Date, Any State:

DATE of LAST ADDITION to LIST: 1-27-2012

These are the more serious cases and some where the registry or community notification information was used, by the perpetrator, to commit his/her deeds and harm the person who is the object of the story. While I am sure there are other cases, in these there is no doubt they are the most serious short of out-right murders; the rest of this blog documents them. This list will be update as we find more, so stop back for the then current version. In addition, there are hundreds of cases of vigilantism in the Vigilantism Blog.

By Year:

2011 MA: Molotov Cocktail Thrown Into Occupied Home where a Registered Sex Offender Lives

2011 CA: Authorities say woman stabbed Diamond Bar man to death before dismembering him

2010 VA: Hopewell teen charged with harassing registered sex offender

2010 CA: California man accused of tracking down alleged molester priest, beating him at retirement home

No Bond For CA Man Steven Banister In Murder Of Sex Offender

1-10-2010 California:

A judge Monday denied bail for a self-avowed white supremacist accused of using California's Megan's Law registry to track down and kill a convicted sex offender at his North Palm Springs home last summer.

Steven Banister, 28, of Desert Hot Springs is charged with first-degree murder in the Aug. 10 death of Edward Vaughn Keeley, whose body was found in his back yard in the 64-000 block of 16th Avenue.

Banister also faces two special circumstance allegations of committing a murder during a robbery and a burglary, which would make him eligible for the death penalty if convicted. Prosecutors will decide later in the case whether to seek capital punishment for Banister.

Riverside County Superior Court Judge Arjuna T. Saraydarian denied bail, citing the special circumstance allegations, and ordered Banister to return to court Feb. 18 for a felony settlement conference.

Travis Martin Cody, 27, is also charged in Keeley's death. A Feb. 10 arraignment is set for Cody, who is in state prison on an unrelated offense and is expected to be brought to Riverside County in the next few weeks, according to district attorney's spokesman Michael Jeandron.

Man defends attacks on sex offenders: Crusader gets jail term

12-5-2004 New Hampshire:

CONCORD, N.H. -- Lawrence Trant sees himself as a righteous crusader who put muscle behind his boiling outrage against pedophiles.

The state of New Hampshire sees Trant differently. He is serving a 10- to 30-year sentence in New Hampshire State Prison after pleading guilty to attempting to murder two convicted sex offenders whose names and addresses he found on an Internet registry posted by the state.

"I don't want people to steal the souls of little kids," Trant, 57, said in an interview in prison last week. "I'm doing 30 years for something I think is morally justified."

But prosecutor John Weld says Trant is one of the most cold-blooded criminals he has encountered. If Trant had not been arrested, Weld said, the native of Cambridge, Mass., probably would have killed someone convicted of a sex crime against children.

"He doesn't seem to have any conscience about violence to other people," Weld said. "These people have as much right to justice as anybody else."