Extrajudicial punishment is physical punishment without the permission of a court or legal authority, generally carried out by a state apparatus needing to rid itself of a dangerously disruptive influence. The idea behind extrajudicial punishment is that governments will break their own legal code when it is necessary for them to do so. A legal code is a moral code enforced by the law of a state. ...

Although the legal use of capital punishment is generally decreasing around the world, individuals or groups deemed immediately threatening — or even, in times of comparative stability, simply "undesirable" — to a government's ability to govern may nevertheless be targeted for killing extrajudicially by some regimes. Such killing typically happens quickly, with skilled secret security forces on a covert basis, performed in such a way as to avoid massive public outcry and international criticism that would reflect badly on the state. Capital punishment, or the death penalty, called execution, as punishment for a crime often called a capital offence or a capital crime. ...

Extrajudicial punishment is a typical feature of totalitarian and other politically repressive regimes using death squads for this purpose, but even self-proclaimed democracies have been known to use extrajudicial punishment under certain cirumstances. Totalitarianism is a typology employed by political scientists, especially those in the field of comparative politics, to describe modern regimes in which the state regulates nearly every aspect of public and private behavior. ... Political repression means the restriction of the abilities of certain groups of people to take part in the political life of a society; or the persecution of people for their political beliefs. ... A death squad is an armed group that carries out, usually in secrecy, extrajudicial assassinations and forced disappearances of activists, dissidents and others perceived as interfering with a social or political status quo. ...

In times of war, societal collapse, or in the absence of an established system of criminal justice, there may be an increased incidence of extrajudicial punishment. In such extreme circumstances, police or military personnel may be authorised to summarily execute individuals involved in rioting, looting or violent acts, especially if caught in flagrante delicto. It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Social disintegration. ... The study of criminal justice traditionally revolves around three main components of the criminal justice system: police, courts, corrections. ... Summary execution of Viet Cong agent. ... Looting (which derives via the Hindi lut from Sanskrit lunt, to rob) is the inconsiderate taking of valuables triggered by a change in authority or the absence thereof. ... This article is being considered for deletion in accordance with Wikipedias deletion policy. ...

A "disappearance" occurs where someone who is believed to have been targeted for extrajudicial execution does not reappear alive. Their ultimate fate is thereafter unknown or never fully confirmed. A forced disappearance occurs when an organization forces a person to vanish from public view, either by murder or by simple sequestration. ...

Extrajudicial punishment around the world

See NKVD troika and Special Council of the NKVD for examples from the history of the Soviet Union, where extrajudicial punishment "by administrative means" was part of the state policy. Most Latin American dictatorships have regularly instituted extrajudicial killings of their enemies; for one of the better-known examples, see Operation Condor). Some consider the killing of Black Panther Fred Hampton to have been an extrajudicial killing ordered by the United States government. What does it mean? The Russian word troika (threesome, triumvirate) denoted commissions of three persons as an additional instrument of extrajudicial punishment (внесудебная расправа, внесудебное преследование) introduced to supplement the legal system with a means for quick punishment of anti-Soviet elements. ... Special Council of the USSR NKVD (Особое Совещание при НКВД СССР, ОСО) was created by the same decree of Sovnarkom of July 10, 1934 that introduced the NKVD itself. ... By administrative means (В административном порядке, V administrativnom poryadke) was an expression in use in the Soviet Union applied to the cases when some actions that normally required a collegial decision were left to the decision of certain officials, i. ... Latin America consists of the countries of South America and some of North America (including Central America and some the islands of the Caribbean) whose inhabitants mostly speak Romance languages, although Native American languages are also spoken. ... Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler were two of the 20th centurys most notorious dictators. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Logo of the Black Panther Party. ... Fred Hampton (August 30, 1948 – December 4, 1969) was a radical African American activist and deputy chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party. ...

The government of Israel has also been accused of carrying out extrajudicial killings, which they term "targeted assassinations," against leaders of organisations involved in carrying out attacks against Israeli citizens. The Israeli government and its defenders, however, consider these people to be enemy combatants and not civilians; hence they are legitimate military targets as per the rules of war. This term is used by the United States to describe a person whom has been designated by the President of the United States as such. ... A civilian is a person who is not a member of a military. ... The two parts of the laws of war: Law concerning acceptable practices while engaged in war, like the Geneva Conventions, is called Jus in bello; while law concerning allowable justifications for armed force is called Jus ad bellum. ...

See also

• Lynching
• Terrorism
• Summary execution
• Extraordinary rendition

Lynching is violence, usually murder, conceived by its perpetrators as extra-legal execution, or used as a terrorist method of enforcing social domination. ... The term terrorism is largely synonymous with political violence or the threat of violence, and refers to a strategy of using coordinated attacks that typically fall within the time, manner of conduct, and place commonly understood as unconventional warfare. ... Extraordinary rendition is a United States government euphemism for an extra-judicial (i. ...

Monitoring organizations

• Amnesty International
• Ansar Burney Trust - working in Pakistan and the Middle East
• Human Rights Watch