lynching - Hutchinson encyclopedia article about lynching Printer Friendly
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lynching

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lynching

Killing of an alleged offender by an individual or group having no legal authority. In the USA it originated in 1780 with creation of a ‘committee of vigilance’ in Virginia; it is named after a member of that committee, Captain William Lynch, to whom is attributed ‘Lynch's law’. Later examples occurred mostly in the Southern states after the Civil War, and were racially motivated. During 1882–1900 the annual number of lynchings in the USA varied between 96 and 231, but today it is an exceptional occurrence.

Similar behaviour patterns exist in many societies, especially when access to regular courts is poor.



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? Mentioned in ? References in classic literature
 
I happened to find myself in a town in which so much excitement and indignation were being expressed that it seemed likely for a time that there would be a lynching.
Up From Slavery by Washington, Booker T. View in context
Why was it, mused Mr Ferguson, that every girl in every country town in every county of England who had ever recited 'Curfew shall not ring tonight' well enough to escape lynching at the hands of a rustic audience was seized with the desire to come to London and go on the stage?
The Man Upstairs and Other Stories by Wodehouse, Pelham Grenville View in context
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