Mob justice is a social public health and legal problem, constituting about 13% of all the forensic autopsy cases performed at the Department of forensic medicine.The youths are the most culprits.While stoning and burning are the most commonly employed modes of killing, robbery is the major reason for the killing.

When the legal system cannot be trusted due either to feeling of social inequalities or corruption, it is not surprising to find that angry and disenfranchised people resort to mob justice when frustrated. Many law enforcers in Tanzania have failed to deliver and people have to live with the fear that they are not well protected. Corruption has affected the police department, the courts and other government agencies. Therefore when a suspected criminal is apprehended and is handed over to the police, many are able to either negotiate their way out using the intricacies of the law or through corruption.This further alienates the public who think that the police and courts are favoring the criminals.The public therefore thinks that it is counterproductive to handover such criminals to the system of justice and therefore take the law into their own hands. Another reason for the apparent increase in crimes such as robbery and stealing is the increasing level of unemployment due to retrenchments.The gap between the rich and the poor is also widening. It can be said therefore, that mob justice is a manifestation of a failing judicial system and unequal economic system that favors those who are already rich. This leads to social groups to develop and dispense out their own system of social justice.

In the present study, the youth group was the most affected (69.96%).This observation could be explained partly by uneven opportunities amongst the rural and the urban societies, causing migration of youth from rural to urban centers.⁵ These youth in most cases fail to achieve their goals and dreams such as employment and financial independence and therefore resolve to commit crimes resulting in a high crime rate and more incidences of MJ.

Civil wars have an indirect role in the occurrence of mob justice in Tanzania. Countries affected by civil wars have a high number of illegal arms which can be easily obtained by criminals thereby causing a rise in the number of crimes. The rise in incidence of crime usually overwhelm the law enforcing agencies resulting in the public resorting to take justice in their own hands. The basic administrative structure including the judicial system in the refugee camps is inefficient and this may create a vacuum leading the public to resort to mob justice.

In some societies in the world MJ occurred because of social discrimination. During the 19^th century, blacks were lynched as a punishment for committing acts considered criminal by the white population in America.¹³The crimes constituted race prejudice, quarreling with whites, and making threats. In certain countries, asylum seekers and refugees are being subjected to incidences of mob violence performed by citizens of the host countries who are either racists or view refugees as exploiters of their resources such as jobs and employment. This is true in most western Europe countries where the natives harass and sometimes beat to death the immigrants from developing world in Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe countries seeking for asylum or jobs. Social or racial discrimination was not found as a major contributing factor for MJ in the present study. People who are suspected of practicing witchcraft are occasionally subjected to MJ in some communities in Tanzania, especially old people suspected of being witches.This was also true in some societies in the present day Western Europe.⁶ Isolated cases of MJ because of such reasons as adultery are not unusual in Tanzania.

Ethnicity has been a factor for MJ in some societies. In Rwanda for instance, two ethnic groups exist; the Tutsis and Hutu. In 1994 the world had experienced a Rwanda genocide where the Hutu mobs ambushed and slaughtered innocent Tutsis.⁷ Conflict in the Balkans was defined in ethnic terms too.The misplacement and killing of the Moslems in Kosovo was a result of inflamed ethnic tensions as a means of legitimizing the rule by the criminal underworld in the Balkans.⁸ Religious differences between the Catholics and Protestants has for many years been the source of deaths from both sides in Northern Ireland. While ethnicity was not found as an associated factor for MJ, religious differences accounted for a very small number of MJ cases in Tanzania.

Conclusions