The Wild West Was As Wild As You Think… And Justice Was Often Even Worse

The American West stirs up grand images from movies: daring escapades, shootouts at high noon, tough sheriffs and marshals keeping the peace, and the cavalry riding in to save the day. The history of the Wild West is full of myths and stereotypes, but the truth about justice in the West is often more complicated – and more unsettling. Violence plagued the American West. Settlers faced rising numbers of illegal acts as people poured into the frontier searching for new lives, and communities had to handle justice on their own.