Mob Justice: Is it Just?

I missed a raging ethical debate during the drive this morning, thanks to whatever I ate in the past couple days that I shouldn’t have, which has kept me home for the day.  Our driver told my housemates that his community caught a thief last night.  And then they cut off one of his hands.

This isn’t the first I’ve heard of something like this happening in Liberia. Another friend was at a graduation party recently when people started yelling “Thief! Thief!,” which was immediately met by everyone running out, chasing down the culprit, and beating him.  The Liberian people are justifiably sick and tired of having not just their livelihood but also indeed their lives stolen from them.

There are signs around Monrovia urging against mob justice, but it’s not as if there is much of an alternative, at least not yet.  The police force in Liberia is nearly nonexistent, so there is little formal deterrent to crime.  Mob justice is an informal institution that has arisen due to the lack of formal institutions in Liberia.

Clearly it is a problem if crime becomes rampant due to the lack of consequence (and I understand this actually happening, which is particularly concerning given the numbers of ex-combatants), but is it okay for communities to be cutting off someone’s hand if they are caught stealing?  Should angry mobs be determining and carrying out criminal punishment?

I've only put a morning's worth of thought on this, and haven't had a chance to vet my thinking with anyone yet, but here goes. There is a practical and a theoretical way of thinking about this question.

Practically speaking, without the informal institution you risk the establishment of criminal norms and networks, but with it, you are risking the establishment of tensions within communities and norms accepting brutality. 

I’m inclined to argue that the government should take a stand against mob justice, despite the fact that it is playing a critical role the government does not yet have the capacity to.  Down the line when the capacity does exist, I think it will be easier to take on criminal networks than to remove the societal tensions and shift the unhealthy norms that will inevitably arise from current behavior. 

In reality of course, a government without the capacity to stop theft doesn’t have the capacity to stop mob justice either.  It will still play a valuable role deterring theft.  But I don’t think the Liberian government can afford to indirectly condone such violence by not taking a stand against it.

Though, that’s my thinking on a practical answer.  What’s the theoretical one?  Is mob justice just?  What does justice mean in a country lacking formal institutions?  Or is there some definition of justice that is universal?