Theories of vigilantism frequently locate its cause in the ineffectiveness of the state legal system. The state legal system does not work for some, so they take the law into their own hands. Even in communities where vigilantism is prevalent, however, only certain harms are met with vigilantism. Why are some harms met with violence while others are not? To explore this question, I draw on nine months of fieldwork in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, a nation with a largely ineffective state legal system and the presence of vigilantism. Yet vigilante remedies are largely reserved for harms attributed to witchcraft, and typically only particularly serious witchcraft harms. In this article I draw on the concept of legal consciousness to understand why people might turn to vigilantism in response to witchcraft. I develop two themes of legal consciousness—a disconnect in harm naming and different logics of justice—that help explain dynamics vigilantism. My research thus contributes to the scholarship on both vigilantism and legal consciousness.

中文翻译：

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法律意识和治安维持：为刚果民主共和国东部的巫术伤害寻求正义

私刑主义理论经常将其原因归咎于国家法律体系的低效。国家法律体系对某些人不起作用，所以他们把法律掌握在自己手中。然而，即使在自卫行为盛行的社区，也只有某些特定的伤害才会受到自卫行为的影响。为什么有些伤害会遭遇暴力，而另一些伤害却不会？为了探讨这个问题，我在刚果民主共和国东部进行了九个月的实地考察，该国的国家法律体系基本上无效，而且存在私刑活动。然而，治安维持者的补救措施主要是针对巫术造成的伤害，而且通常只针对特别严重的巫术伤害。在这篇文章中，我利用法律意识的概念来理解为什么人们可能会转向私刑对待巫术。我提出了法律意识的两个主题——危害命名的脱节和正义的不同逻辑——这有助于解释动态私刑主义。因此，我的研究有助于对私刑和法律意识的学术研究。