Lynching and Justice in Conflict and Post-Conflict Contexts

• In Event: Citizen-State Interactions in the Shadow of Conflict

Abstract

Governance during and after conflict often centers on the provision of services, particularly policing and justice, by a variety of actors. Legitimacy and control are incomplete in many of these areas and contexts, where policing is absent or seen as untrusted or ineffective. In this paper I explore the emergence and persistence of “community justice”—local, extra-legal justice practices such as lynching—when legitimacy is in transition. Using cross-national and local observational data, including evidence from the post-war American South, as well as original surveys from Haiti and South Africa, I argue that this form of justice is often permitted to persist even once policing and the state are more robust because it disproportionately targets the political out-group, making the establishment of order increasingly difficult. Overall, these findings speak to broad questions about policing, justice, and accountability in post-conflict states.

Author

• Danielle F. Jung, Emory University