Lynching is vigilante justice where someone is executed without trial, often involving torture and hanging. It occurs worldwide, but was largely banned due to anti-lynching laws. Lynchings were prevalent in the US after the Civil War, with nearly 5,000 black people lynched between 1860 and 1968. Lynchings tend to increase during civil unrest and target cultural, racial or ethnic minorities. Tough lynching laws have led to a decline in incidence, but it still occurs as an act of revenge or vigilance in various regions of the world.
Lynching is a form of vigilante justice in which someone is summarily executed without trial. Classically, lynching involves the torture and hanging of an alleged offender, and while he has become infamously associated with the United States, it occurs around the world. The practice was largely banned, thanks to a series of anti-lynching laws introduced in the 20th century, but documented cases continue to occur in challenging regions of the world.
This practice is named after Charles Lynch, an infamous vigilante who lived in Virginia during the American Revolution. Lynch used his position of authority to administer summary justice to anyone suspected of criminal activity, without the benefit of a trial, and his name has become synonymous with hanging without trial.
For the United States, the most infamous examples of lynching occurred in the wake of the Civil War, when civil unrest led to the lynching of nearly 5,000 black people between 1860 and 1968. Black people already had limited access to the legal system and lynchings deprived them of civil rights. further. Angry mobs brought on by acts of violence would lynch any black man or woman they found on the street, whether or not that individual was involved in the crime, and sometimes even in cases where whites had clearly committed the crime.
The incidence of lynching tends to increase in communities where civil unrest occurs. Colonies and nations in the throes of civil war are prone to lynching, as citizens can strike convenient targets, taking advantage of the general confusion to engage in vigilant justice without consequence. Victims of lynchings are often cultural, racial or ethnic minorities, and a lynching can be seen as a public spectator event and cause for celebration, as evidenced by numerous disturbing images of lynchings in the United States.
The frequency of lynchings worldwide began to decline in the 1960s, in response to civil rights movements and the push to end lynching in the United States. The formulation of tough lynching laws has also led to a decline in the incidence of this form of justice, as lynch mobs are now faced with very real consequences for their actions. However, this crime still takes place in various regions of the world as an act of revenge, vigilance or an unspoken message. Current drug wars, for example, often result in lynchings while police and drug detectives are publicly hanged to highlight the consequences of interfering with drug barons.
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