Nature, Patterns and Implications of Mob Justice in the Suburbs Addis Ababa. The Case Study Involved in an Eyewitness Account

Case Study from the year 2019 in the subject Sociology - Law and Delinquency, grade: A-, Addis Ababa University (Department of Sociology), course: Senior Essay, language: English, abstract: The present study was emphasized on how the action of Mob justice is perpetrated in the suburbs of Addis Ababa City. This Action has been the reality in different parts of Ethiopia especially for the last two years as a manifestation of the political, economic and social turmoil in the existing regime. The research has been followed a case study to get in-depth information from few eyewitnesses that were comprised of different places to collect ample evidence based on the eyewitness account. A qualitative method was used to analyze the data taken from informants with an interview. The findings of the study showed that the nature of mob justice in the suburbs of Addis Ababa city is marked by perpetrators from different socio-demographic backgrounds which especially are young, unemployed and male-dominated mobs. Moreover, there were also strangers that commit most of the action intentionally against a few ethnic groups that project different resentments related to the current political-economic situation in the country. Most of the patterns of mob justice in these localities were supported by government officials at the community level due to different reasons like as a means to hide from future accusations that are believed by these officials. At an individual level, most of the perpetrators were reported to be filled with ethnic haters and economic benefits that are perceived to be gained after the displacement and evacuations by victims from their households and most of the squatter settlements that were targets of the mob justice. At a community level, the ignorance and negligence of the communities in each locality cost hundreds of innocent lives and destructions of huge amounts of properties from these areas. All such actions were caused by different implications that divide

About the Author :
My name is Yakob Tilahun and I am an Ethiopian who previously works as a Social Affairs Research Officer and currently Policy Researcher(Governance Affairs) in The Secretariat of Ethiopia's Parliament. Regarding my educational background, I have earned a B.A degree in Psychology and M.A degree in Social Psychology from Addis Ababa University. Other than that, I also have a B.A degree level of education from The Department of Sociology at Addis Ababa University.