This study aims to use critical discourse analysis to discern how support for vigilante acts is justified, legitimized, and constructed. By analyzing 1000 comments left on YouTube videos depicting violent vigilante acts, this study looks to create a discourse of the acts, their context, and the actors involved. The videos depict individuals taking the law into their own hands as they react to a crime, theft. Both videos end in the death of the criminal. One video takes place in the U.S. and one in the U.K. Previous research has focused on distrust of police and the justice system, to understand why citizens resort to vigilantism. With discussions on fear of crime and community justice. This study shows similar sentiments to previous research. The comments describe a discourse of society as declining, and crime perceived as increasing. The commentators create a sense of belonging and identify with the vigilante as an ‘insider’ whilst the ‘criminal’ is dehumanized and described as the ‘outsider’, and the criminal justice system is constructed as dysfunctional/illegitimate. This discourse leads the participants to see the act of the vigilante as honorable and necessary, as it’s perceived as the only way to get justice. Rights (such as due process) are pictured as something that is earned, and the criminal forfeited these rights when the decision was made to commit a crime. This points to what is described as the problem with a ‘strong state’ and how it might encourage vigilantism. This study adds to previous research by painting a full-picture critical discourse of support for vigilantism whilst also exploring how societal power dynamics play a role in its construction.

During the 1890s, a series of extra-legal and illegal activities known as "whitecapping" occurred in Sevier County, Tennessee. While the early episodes were based on traditional responses to deviant behavior in rural communities, whitecapping reflected the loss of community within the county. This study examines the relationship of whitecapping and community in Sevier County and how it changed during the 1890s. The several, often contradictory, social conditions which affected the life of every Sevier Countian are also examined to show the decline of community consensus during this period. Finally, the events galavanizing public opinion against the whitecaps are analyzed to understand their enduring effect on community in Sevier County.

During the 1890s, a series of extra-legal and illegal activities known as "whitecapping" occurred in Sevier County, Tennessee. While the early episodes were based on traditional responses to deviant behavior in rural communities, whitecapping reflected the loss of community within the county. This study examines the relationship of whitecapping and community in Sevier County and how it changed during the 1890s. The several, often contradictory, social conditions which affected the life of every Sevier Countian are also examined to show the decline of community consensus during this period. Finally, the events galavanizing public opinion against the whitecaps are analyzed to understand their enduring effect on community in Sevier County.