How is this possible? Vigilantism is Celebrated and Justice is Ignored
In a deeply troubling display of misplaced outrage, protestors gathered outside the Elkhart County Courthouse in Goshen, Indiana last week—not to denounce murder, but to defend it. They rallied not in support of justice, but to glorify vigilantism. Signs reading “Free Nic” and “Nick Stanley Doesn’t Deserve Jail” were hoisted by individuals who believe that the accused killer of a man named Allen Cogswell should be praised, not prosecuted.
Let’s unpack this… Cogswell, who was recently released from prison and labeled a sex offender, was shot and killed at a motel on June 24. The accused, Nicholas Stanley, is reportedly related to one of the victims in Cogswell’s past case. While the pain and trauma that come with sexual abuse are real and lasting—and deserving of compassion and support—what is being endorsed here is not healing. It’s revenge.
The most alarming aspect of this protest is the open call for stricter punishment for the victim of the murder. Yes, you read that right. A man was murdered, and the response from the crowd was not to demand accountability, but to say he deserved it—and to call for harsher penalties for registrants. How is that even logically possible?
This is the horrifying reality of public registries and the mob mentality they encourage. The registry doesn’t just track people; it paints a target on their backs. It fuels vigilante violence by branding individuals with a modern-day scarlet letter—ignoring rehabilitation, reform, or redemption.
People like Cogswell serve their time. But because their names, faces, and locations are published and broadcasted with the click of a button, they never stop being punished—by neighbors, landlords, employers, and in this case, by a man with a gun. Murder is murder. There is no justification for it, no matter what the criminal history of the victim. If we start condoning homicide as a form of “justice,” where does it stop? Who gets to decide whose life is worth taking? A gang of bikers with a Facebook page?
Articles like this one only serve one purpose; to escalate the dangerous belief that those on the registry are subhuman, and therefore disposable. The law doesn’t work that way. Nor should it. What kind of society do we live in where the news media celebrates vigilantism. In addition to contacting WNDU News and suggesting they post an op-ed, we should be asking politicians (who now have another example of how the registry is being used as a hit list), why they make it so easy for a vigilante to find and execute this man?
We are by no means excusing the victim’s past crimes. We empathize with victim’s trauma. But we also don’t excuse murder. Justice in this country comes from a courtroom, not a lynch mob.
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If you knew you were going to arrested for a sex offense would you have still done it anyway?
@Joliet
If only time machines really existed. Imagine the changes we could make for the good. Wars, crimes, sickness caught earlier etc, etc.
Of course, some would find a way to mess that up as well 🙁
Reminds me of the old saying “An eye for an eye and soon everyone is blind.”
What most people miss in that biblical passage is that it calls for extracting ONLY an eye for an eye and not more. It prescribes reciprocal justice, not vengeance. It is this misunderstanding that causes the blindness.
There was a time a thought of the days that burning someone at the stake or watching the hangings and the draw and quartering of criminals was a time we had moved on from, but those people who consider that entertainment are still here today.
@FAC
I had no idea what the registry was when I accepted the plea bargain. It seems politicians, Law Enforcement, neighbors and the general public loath anyone on the registry to a degree worthy of murdering PFRs.
The registry has effectively taken everything from me. My career, my wife left me, I lost custody of my son (who won’t talk to me because of the registry), and when my father passes away, I will be homeless. I literally have no reason to continue this sham of a life.
So instead of inventing new ways to make people PFRs and arrest them repeated for clerical errors and other insipidly ineffective laws that are all somehow felonies… Why not offer the option all the vigilantes are clamoring for?
If given the choice I would happily accept a civilized option for a fire squad, guillotine or MAID(Medical assistance in dying) than to continue this miasmic march through a life with no point and no end to the perpetual punishment of being a PFRs.
Note: I’m under the care of a psychiatrist, I am not depressed. It’s just my 2 cents on the vigilantism vs. Just (or rather what justice should be)
@SGT Vito
Unlike you, there was NO registry when I was arrested. None when sentenced, and none until the week I got out of prison. If there had been a registry when I was sentence, I would not have plead guilty and would have gone to trial or at least pushed back for a better deal.
Actually I got NO deal. Basically I was at the mercy of the judge and she gave me the maximum sentence. On a positive note, prison can make or break someone. Prison changed me for the better. I realized, if you can survive prison, there is NOTHING you cannot do.
Do not give up brother. And you DO have family. I and others on here are your family. I miss seeing you on here and hope you keep participating and helping us march forward with a victory. Please stay with us and do not give in to the hate.
The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.
Deuteronomy 31:8
You can’t allegedly but I think you can. If enough people know that murdering a person or raping or molesting a person could end up in street justice, many will stop to think about their actions. Hell, war is wrong, but America has been warring for decades and has been pretty successful in many wars might I add.
Mr. D, you may be interested to know that in Florida, murder, rape, and molestation already carry prison sentences plus (for rape and molestation) life sentence on the registry. In some cases they result in a death sentence.
If you are suggesting that these penalties fail at deterrence where street justice would succeed, that would be a very interesting conversation.
(Note: I do not in any way condone street justice).
MrD
Yes, so true
@Mr. D
you said “If enough people know that murdering a person or raping or molesting a person could end up in street justice, many will stop to think about their actions.”
There is NO law that will stop crime-not even the death sentence.
If there was a law or punishment that could stop crime then there would be no crime.
The Romans crucified those they regarded as criminals which was a slow, painfully agonizing death that sometimes lasted for days, and even then that was unsuccessful to prevent crime as well as other ancient forms of brutal punishment, so your idea that so-called street justice could change things against some of the old, brutal forms of punishment that were ineffective back then is real pipe-dream to say the least.
No offense, but what you are saying is really wacked out!
I’m not trying to attack you, understand, but like what you said is seriously sociopathic!
Think about what you are endorsing! Mob vigilantism!
Civilized people have laws and courts – not lynchings!
JJJJ
Those same people who criticize us for something we did decades ago and have no connection to our crime, they become hypocrites when they attack or kill us and say justice was done. Why is one a crime and the other isn’t? Even law enforcement says both are crimes but these arm chair judges who come on F.A.C to bash us, (they do not even know us from Adam) and threaten us (F.A.C moderates threats for the most part)
But, with just a few exceptions, these creeps are living in their Mom’s basement eating cheerios while coming on here pretending to be our grim reapers. I still think it is funny that one day someone is going to challenge someone on the registry and when they knock on that person’s door and a 6’4″ dude comes to the door, what are they going to do then? Not all of us are afraid mice who hide in the shadows.
I comply with the laws, but I also live my life as if I am not on the registry because the registry does control me. I know the rule, I comply and if someone harms me or my family, I do not mind going back to prison to protect what and who I have in my life.
Funny side note, being in prison was almost easier than all the add ons they keep throwing at us on the registry. In South Florida they are building prison camps in the everglades for migrants, but who is to say we are next?
Mr. D, I think that is a very slippery slope you are venturing on. There are reasons we, as civilized society, do not engage in or condone vigilante murder. Once you open that door it’s open season on anyone because it starts with people accused of a sex offense or murder then it continues on to people accused of manslaughter or bank robbery and keeps going. Controlling our blood lust is what separates us from animals and barbarians.
No matter how you slice it, a 2nd wrong does NOT make the 2nd wrong right!!
Rape is a felony one.
Murder is a felony one.
Vigilantism is illegal in all 50 states.
If a vigilante kills a criminal, he/she becomes a criminal also and is NO better than the criminal he/she killed.
You can’t wipe out crime with crime-that’s absurd and insane thinking that you could-it only creates more crime and more criminals.
DVC
Here is my take on that. If someone’s child was raped or abused, I could see that parent taking action. But that rarely happens. The ones that come after us are people who have ZERO connection to us and we have not harmed them or their families.
They pretend to be superheroes of justice but doesn’t end so well when their family is split apart because they are in prison for getting into someone else’s business that now ruined Three families. The original victim and their family, the vigilante’s family and the family of the hurt or dead registered persons family. Why create even more families in mourning. And an eye for an eye is not an eye for an eye when the victim was not physically harmed but the offender is murdered. That is an eye for a life.
We did our time and, in many cases, people served 10, 20 or more on their sentence, then when released, have to be on a lifetime registry that puts not only us in danger, but any family we have that live with us.