A vigilante is a person or persons who ignore due process of law after a crime has been committed, instead enacting their own form of justice when they deem the response of the authorities to be insufficient. The term is Spanish for "watchman", a private security agent. It was introduced into English from the southwestern United States, in the same way as the folkloric term "desperado". Vigilantism is generally denounced by official agencies, especially when it gives way to criminal behavior on the part of the vigilante, even if such illegal actions save lives.