MOB INJUSTICE.

Before anything, I would like you to watch a clip here of a man lynched to death for stealing a sack of potatoes. I must warn you that the clip is very graphical and do not watch it if you are faint-hearted. CLICK HERE.

Listen to this story. Joseph Ochieng' was aged 30 and was mentally handicapped. One day, he was loitering in a bus stand somewhere in Kisumu, apparently talking and blubbering to himself like any man of his situation. In the other side of the street a mob was trying to catch up with a thief, and he was oblivious of this all. The suspected pick-pocket then made a move that saved his life but that put Ochieng's life on the course of its end. The suspect diverted the mob's attention by pointing Ochieng' and shouting "Mwizi! Mwizi!" ("Thief! Thief!") He then made his escape and left a mob to punish an innocent man. Luckily though, he was rescued by police on patrol, who however, after taking him to custody also beat him up subjecting him to a wheel-chair. Later on, his family members found him and availed a medical report that showed his condition. Unfortunately, a few days later, he succumbed to the assault. (C/O Kenya Democracy Project.)

Recently, students at the UoN lynched two people who they suspected to be criminals. This, they said, was meant to warn other robbers of what kind of punishment they risked going through if they got caught. Remember, these were just mere suspects, they had not been convicted in any trial yet they ended up losing their lives in such a manner. Mob justice may indeed be a deterrent to crime. Say for example, in a region where criminals are dealt with through mob justice, any criminal would be slow to committing his act. That would be a rather rational perception. However, we have no certain statistics to back this idea.
Mob justice is barbaric and extra-judicial manner of combating crime. It leaves many to die innocently as is the case of Joseph Ochieng' expressed above. The question in context however is whether mob justice serves any social importance, or is it just another crime maybe even worse than that committed by the suspect?
It is actually an injustice on itself. First and foremost, it is illegal to take away life whether carried out in an individual manner or as a mob. Therefore, taking part in a mob action to, say for example, lynching a robber, it makes you as guilty as the man you are lynching, and if anything, you should be burning in the same flames. Secondly, the constitution of Kenya clearly states that everyone is entitled to free and fair trial and any suspect is considered innocent until proven otherwise in a court of law. This translates that, lynching a suspect in the streets is actually depriving him of one of his fundamental rights.
Mob psychology is a dangerous thing. When in a crowd, people act differently than they would individually. All the minds of the individuals merge to form a common way of thinking. The emotions and enthusiasm of a single individual becomes blown out of proportion and they end up becoming less aware of their actions. Therefore, it is easier to assume that people who wish to act in a certain way will maximise on the anonymity provided in a crowd thus influencing most people to do things how they want them done. So the exact inference in all this is that, for matters such as justice, mechanisms driven by masses and mobs do more harm than good.
Another factor is that of proportionality. In legal studies, punishment should be proportionate to the crime committed. Think of it this way, for a person who commits murder and another who steals s Biro pen, the punishment can never be equal since one crime is socially and legally considered greater than the other. In mob justice however, the proportionality of the crime and the punishment administered is never considered. In court, this factors are normally put into consideration, unlike in a mobs' 'mind' where the tone is normally adverse, and all people do is bay for blood.

Mob justice in Kenya has become the order of the day. One of the most hilarious was that of a man and a woman paraded nude in the streets after they were caught having an adulterous moment. There are worrying extremes too, like in the case where 15 witchdoctors were lynched. I wouldn't be surprised that the crowd that took place in this was equally guilty. Most of them might have even been the witchdoctors' most reliable customers. This has often become the most handy solution of justice and it leaves much to be desired.
What could be the reason for rushing to mob justice as the most appropriate manner of administering justice?
Evidently, it goes to show that the masses have little faith in the official mechanisms. One of the main affecting vices been corruption. For a society where criminals are released from custody the same moment they get arrested, the public is left unsatisfied and mob action remains the most effective means of its administration.
The only way to curb this would wisely to have a more reliable and trustworthy police unit and judiciary. If so, the public won't feel obliged to take the law into its own hands.

If you thought its only in Kenya alone where mob justice is such an issue, well your wrong. In countries such as Zambia, one is not safe from himself in the streets, from himself in the sense that, not being safe from a mob that is quick to administer justice means you are a potential victim as well as being a danger to another innocent victim. People are quick to lynch a suspect, then gather later on to try and find out what atrocities he had actually committed.

The most infamous incidence of mob injustice has to be last year's case of  two brothers, Mughees and Muneeb who were lynched by a mob in Sialkot - a city in the Punjab province of Pakistan. The two were suspected to be robbers, and their execution was done right before policemen, who even gave the public authority to carry on their mission, assuring them they would make it look like it was done by them (police). Reports came out later on, they were just innocent men who met death so sadly. The incidence resulted to inernational uproar and concerns relating to mob justice.
Click here to watch the video on YouTube if you wish.

I personally developed an abhorrence for muggers, especially after an incidence back then when a mugger struck my mom with a panga, before my own presence, leaving her for dead. As we fought to rush her to hospital I kept cursing and hating. Since then, I get a twinge of joy when a robber is murdered in the streets, but later on, it hits me, that as much as I came close to losing my mum that fatal night, every time a mob kills a victim, they are actually making somebody somewhere go through what I would have. Its sad. I hope we can now have faith in our systems, so that next time that pickpocket in the streets may be handed over to the authorities instead and have justice served in a more appropriate manner.

Mob justice is mob injustice.