Unfortunately, public intervention in a child molestation case is rare. A stranger who buggered a kid could juice up the vigilante spirit, but far more often it was a father, grandfather, uncle, etc. And there was a code in society that meddling in family affairs is wrong, so people looked the other way and the abuse would happen for years. Generations even.
I don't pine for the good old days. It's better today.
Not where my dad grew up.
It would be better today if people who needed to be dealt with the way those in his town dealt with them would do it.
Where your dad grew up, where my dad grew up, it's all the same. Incestuous child abuse goes on for years in families because people don't meddle in the affairs of their neighbors. Nobody investigates, nobody pries, nobody intervenes on behalf of the child. Abuse is protected by the family, each member serving a different role in the dysfunction that allows the abuse to persist, and they all defend their secret from outsiders.
So yes we need somebody with a badge to step in or these things don't stop. You and Kosher are living in the same fantasy world where pedophiles get lynched by their angry neighbors. In truth, this was rarely the case.
Apparently not since where my dad grew up, they made a distinction when things that affected the community as a whole, and abuse does, because the communities place to deal with. Seems the difference is when we believe it becomes a community problem and not just a family issue.
According to my dad, those with a badge didn't get involved. Those in the community handled it and those with a bad didn't have a problem with them doing it. From what my dad says, after a couple of times of abuse, the person no longer had the ability to abuse.
The only rarity was that it didn't occur a lot because most were smart enough to know not to be stupid. I'm also not talking about lynching in the sense you portray it. From the stories I've heard, while a small group in the community dealt with, that it happened wasn't widely known. The people of the neighborhood didn't go down the streets with pitchforks and burning sticks.