Breaking the Cycle of Violence: Putting an End to Vigilantism

When residents of one of the largest colonias (impoverished neighborhoods) in Tegucigalpa responded to an AJS-supported survey carried out in August 2005 on what the biggest worries in their lives were, only health outranked violent crime, and nearly 93% said they felt "not very safe," "unsafe," or "extremely unsafe."

Results revealed that most of those surveyed also had little trust in the police or the Honduran justice system. The result of this dynamic—high crime rates and little or no trust in authorities' ability or will to protect citizens—results in a two-pronged tragedy that plays itself out over and over across Honduras: Whole communities remain silent about the waves of violence that are wracking them, and community members become ever more isolated from one another as they shut themselves away behind barred doors and windows. Eventually, some members of the community decide to take "justice" into their own hands, often through violent reprisals against anyone merely suspected of being a thief, gang member, or ne'er-do-well. These vigilantes often enjoy tacit or even outright support from their communities.

But while vigilante justice may reduce the levels of gang activity and common crime for brief periods, the underlying message it communicates is that violence is power, that violence is a legitimate way to achieve one's goals. Living in an atmosphere of violent deaths, whether of "criminals" or everyday citizens, has untold effects on community members, especially children and young people. And vigilante groups sometimes find that, with the previous bosses of the neighborhood conveniently out of the way, the temptation to start robbing and extorting themselves is too much to resist.

Since 2006, the AJS-supported Peace & Justice Project has begun breaking this cycle of violence in one neighborhood by helping Honduran authorities identify, arrest, try, convict, and imprison a group of vigilantes charged with murdering at least 8 boys who had ties with a local gang or were witnesses to other murders carried out by the vigilante group.

Thanks to these AJS-supported efforts, the vigilante group's ringleader was sentenced to 25 years for tying up 12-year-old Freddy,* leading him to a soccer field, and shooting him in the head; three other members of the group have been convicted of shooting 11-year-old Richard* to death because he had witnessed them killing yet another young man. Other members of the group are awaiting trial for further murders.

Thanks to AJS's support, both people in the community where the vigilante group operated and Honduran authorities have been shown that the justice system can work right, and that violence, no matter who it is committed against, does not pay.

Please pray that through AJS-supported efforts, peace will truly flow like a river to fill Honduras' poor urban neighborhoods.

*Names changed for privacy and security.

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