From Lynch Mobs to Legal Loopholes: The Enduring Legacy of Racialized Self-Defense in SYG

• In Event: Roundtable: Critical Perspectives in Policing

Abstract

This paper argues that Stand Your Ground laws and extrajudicial police killings of unarmed Black individuals are modern manifestations of historical lynching. While public lynchings have largely disappeared, their ideological and structural logic remains embedded in contemporary legal and policing practices. Both SYG laws and police killings reflect a system where white fear is legitimized, and Black life is rendered disposable under the guise of legal self-defense and public safety. The paper draws on Critical Race Theory to explain how law reinforces racial hierarchies, while the racial and power threat hypotheses clarify how increases in Black political or demographic presence provoke heightened social control. Racial capitalism further explains how these systems not only devalue Black life but also serve economic interests by maintaining social and racial order. Together, these frameworks highlight the legal continuity of racial violence across eras.

Author

• Bernice Petit, University of Delaware