Vigilantes

Vigilantes (from the Spanish vigilante — “watchman, guard”) are individuals or groups whose aim is to pursue people accused of real or imagined wrongdoing and not given what they consider deserved punishment, outside legal procedures. Although their targets are often actual criminals, vigilantes may have their own ideas about what counts as a crime. Groups and private citizens who assist the authorities in pursuing criminals are not considered vigilantes unless they engage in extrajudicial punishment. Otherwise, vigilantes themselves become criminals in the eyes of the law.