Sudden Vengeance is about a vigilante – male or female, you'll learn which eventually – who metes
out some kind of justice against the guilty when it is widely perceived that
the law has ‘gone soft’ on criminals.
Released on good behaviour today -
Sudden Vengeance from Crooked Cat Publishing!
The following is extracted
from a lengthy and interesting article about vigilantes through history. It
can be found here
Briefly, vigilantism has often been espoused by folkloric heroes and
legendary outlaws (e.g., Robin Hood being the most obvious example).
Vigilantism in literature, folklore and legend is connected to the fundamental
issues of dissatisfied morality, injustice, the perceived failures of authority and the ethical adequacy of
legitimate governance.
Not all vigilantism is aimed at the bad guys, though. It’s
all in the perceptions of the aggrieved, and that of course is the danger. And there are documented instances where mistaken
identity has meant the death of innocents. Here are some examples, the good and
the bad, perhaps, from Wikipedia:
In 1858 San Luis Obispo vigilantes ended the murderous reign of the
bandit gang of Pío Linares on El Camino Real between San Luis and Santa Barbara.
In October 1862 in northern Texas, several Unionist sympathizers were
arrested and taken to Gainesville, Texas for trial on charges of treason and
insurrection. Seven were tried and hanged, and 14 were hanged without trial. A
few weeks later, Unionist sympathizers were hanged without trial across
northern Texas. Known as "The Great Hanging at Gainesville", it may
have been the deadliest act of vigilante violence in U.S. history.
The Great Hanging at Gainesville - Wikipedia commons
In 1865, the Ku Klux Klan was formed in Pulaski,
Tennessee by a group of six Confederate War veterans. The KKK or "Klan"
sought to use extralegal force to resist Reconstruction in the post-Civil War
South of the United States. The KKK became a leading agent of racist violence
in the US.
In the early 20th century, the White Finns founded the Protection Corps
as a paramilitary vigilante organisation in Finland. It formed the nucleus of
the White Army in the Finnish Civil War (January-May, 1918).
In the 1920s, the Big Sword Society of China protected life and property
in a state of anarchy.
The Guardian Angels organization was founded February 13, 1979 in New
York City by Curtis Sliwa and has chapters in 15 countries and 144 cities
around the world.
Recognized since the 1980s, Sombra Negra
or "Black Shadow" of El Salvador is a group of mostly retired police
officers and military personnel whose sole duty is to cleanse the country of
"impure" social elements by killing criminals and gang members. Along
with several other organizations, Sombra Negra are a remnant of the death
squads from the civil war of the 1970s and 1980s.
In Hampshire, England (where Sudden Vengeance is set!), during 2006, a vigilante slashed
the tyres of more than twenty cars, leaving a note made from cut-out newsprint
stating "Warning: you have been seen while using your mobile phone".
Driving whilst using a mobile is a criminal offence in the UK, since individuals
using their mobiles while driving have caused death and serious injury, but
critics feel the law is little observed or enforced.
On April 15, 2011 a group of women in Cherán
armed with rocks and fireworks attacked a bus carrying illegal loggers armed
with machine guns in Michoacán associated with the Mexican drug cartel La Familia Michoacana. They assumed
control over the town, expelled the police force and blocked roads leading to
oak timber on a nearby mountain. Vigilante activity has spread to the nearby
community of Opopeo. The government of Mexico has
recognized Cherán as a self-governing indigenous community, but criminals
continue to murder residents in the forest.
There are many more examples.
***
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