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Originally Posted by JinnKai
...and im glad you're not an english teacher. I'm sorry, but your limited definition of "vigilante justice" is wrong. If he set the jewels back on the counter, what crime has he committed? He picked up jewelry, walked two steps to the left, and came back to the counter.
Locking a presumed criminal inside a building is ILLEGAL - unless they're commiting a felony. I had two weeks of training as a security guard years back, and one of the topics was unlawful arrest/detain. It is ILLEGAL for any citizen (and even a liscened security guard) to impede another's movement unless they've witnessed the comission of a felony. That's what POLICE are for. Check out any law-book for your state if you're legitimately interested and not just countering everything I say. Look up "citizen's arrest" or "lawful arrest."
And YES, it's vigilante justice. Just because you can come up with one example does not make it mutually exclusive to the other.
He took the law into his own hands and "sentenced" the jewel thief to imprisonment. He doesn't have any legal right to do so.
EDIT: Just did my own research, and it appears that in the UK under the PCEA of 1984 a citizen can make a "private person's arrest" for any arrestable offense, of which burglary is included. So, apparently this was legal in the UK (the source video) -- but certainly not in the United States of America.
EDIT x 2: Apparently legal in Canada, as well. So I'll deign that point to you, Carn. However, none of the 50 states (I just looked) allows citizen's arrest for anything less than a felony -- and I personally think that is a good thing. DAMNED BRITS AND CANUCKS!!!
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Just a few thoughts:
First, we can't really compare local statutes to foreign statutes. In the US, many of the issues faced in this example fall in a variety of state, county, and even local statutes. So, no one will necessarily be correct or incorrect if we apply "our" laws to the situation. Where I live, burglary includes concealment or the attempt to flee the establishment. So, if you put a product in your pocket and the security camera guy sees you - busted. If you pick something up and are ~clearly~ attempting to leave the premises - busted. Finally, burglary can reach the level of a felony if the value of the property exceeds a certain amount. Since we don't know the value of the property in question, we can't say whether it was a felony or not.
In my community, it is legal for you to detain a person who has committed a crime. However, you open yourself up to a civil lawsuit if that person feels their civil rights were violated, so you might have to defend your actions in court. However, the perp still has to find a jury of peers that will give him money for stealing from you, which probably won't happen.
I don't want to debate the moral or ethical aspects of detainment. I will just leave it at "I disagree with you."
