> How can communities police themselves without having to rely on an external authority or hierarchy? communities can police themselves about how well their me

> How can communities police themselves without having to rely on an external authority or hierarchy? communities can police themselves about how well their members fit in with the group and obey social norms using whatever tools they like, up to a point. up to a point. the point where self-policing must end and external authority must take over is when criminal allegations are made against a member of the community. if someone is accused of sexual assault, that is a crime they can face prison time for. it is deeply inappropriate for the community to try and self-police a criminal allegation of that weight. if the accuser is not willing to let the criminal justice system investigate a criminal allegation then I think there's something else going on. using criminal allegations for social-normative or political ends is a dangerous game though.