An
extrajudicial killing is the killing of a person by governmental authorities without the sanction of any
judicial proceeding or legal process.
Extrajudicial punishments are mostly seen by humanity to be unethical, since they bypass the
due process of the legal jurisdiction in which they occur. Extrajudicial killings often target leading political, trade union, dissident, religious, and social figures and may be carried out by the
state government or other state authorities like the armed forces or police.