Could a "masked" vigilante work?

[regenweald]

in my country, Portugal, no one respect cops because they are underpaid and when they see a crime being committed they pretend that did´nt see and run away. as a consequence, criminals are beginning to feel free to rob and smug whatever and anyone they want.
since a couples of years back i have being random ideas of some kind of vigilante or a group of guys that roam around lisbon and stop any crime they would saw. meantime i think that one guy should be enough if that guy inspire fear so even if he isn't in the spot when the crime occur, criminals would have fear of that vigilante, instead of the ineffective "officers of the law" and would´nt even try to do anything.
i would like to know your opinions even if you arent portuguese.
BTW: apologize my english but im just 15 and im not so good at this

[herald]

The main problem with vigilantism is that it leaves all parts of the criminal justice process up to a single person. Assuming that the vigilante doesn't get killed trying to fight crime himself, he may see himself as "the law". He may end up making life and death decisions that the rest of society doesn't necessarily agree with. I can't imagine how much it sucks living in a place where you can neither trust nor rely upon the law, but vigilantism may require more sacrifices than living under such conditions. It might cost the vigilante his life or his humanity. Would it be worth it, especially if he didn't have a significant effect on crime?

Additional: Even if all the vigilante did was bring the criminals to the police station, the police couldn't be sure that there would be enough evidence to hold them or convict them. Even if you brought them to the crime scene, they wouldn't really know if it had been contaminated by your actions. It might even result in a criminal getting away with it (at least, I could see that happening in the US, I'm not sure about Portugal).

More Additional: Perhaps, but my personal opinion is that it's a bad idea. It's great in comic books and movies, but the reality is that it's dangerous and has a lot of potential for moral ambiguity.

[leonie36]

Your just going to get yourself in a big mess

[darrell]

You have watched too many movies

Consider:

Your evil-doer would not especially want to accompany you simply because you tap him on the shoulder and cry 'gotcha'. With arrest comes the threat of power or force and if you use that force you can, potentially, be guilty of assault or even kidnapping - especially if you pick on an innocent person in error.

In addition, if you threaten to take someone to jail, and they pull a gun, you may be in a serious bind that is going to lead to some hospital time for one or both of you (at best).

It only works in the movies,..,..sorry

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