State Absence, Vengeance, and the Logic of Vigilantism in Guatemala.

(With David Dow, Gabriella Levy and Juan F. Tellez)
Comparative Political Studies, 57(1): 147-181, 2024.

Recommended citation: Across the world, citizens sidestep the state to punish offenses on their own. Such vigilantism can help communities provide order, yet it raises concerns about public accountability and the rights of the accused. While prior research has identified the structural correlates of vigilantism, an open question is in which scenarios citizens prefer vigilantism over conventional policing. To make sense of these preferences, we delineate two potential logics of vigilantism -state substitution and retribution- by drawing on research in criminology and psychology on punishment motives. Using survey data from over 9,000 households across Guatemala, we provide estimates of the effect of varying crime scenarios on people's preference for vigilantism over policing. The results highlight how support for vigilantism can vary substantially across crimes, suggest that a desire for retribution is a strong determinant of attitudes towards vigilantism, and ultimately raise concerns about the viability of `informal' forms of policing.
Download Paper