Key to the Buffyverse is the notion that a "supernatural world" flourishes alongside the "human world." Several of the human organizations created to deal with the supernatural world focus on issues of law and justice, albeit in contradictory ways. The Watchers Council and the Initiative deal with the supernatural threat through extralegal means (slaying, incarceration without trial) while Wolfram & Hart work through the human legal system. This dichotomy raises difficult questions about the reconciliation between human views of law and justice in the Buffyverse and principles of the American legal system, which emphasizes due process before the determination of guilt and punishment.

"Human rules don't apply," Buffy declared, "There's only me. I am the law." ("Selfless") This paper will examine why humans in the Buffyverse nearly universally accept Buffy's proposition that supernatural criminals must be dealt with outside of the human legal system while human criminals, even if they use supernatural means, are subject to human laws.

Part of the answer may be that Buffy and company consider themselves to be "soldiers" in a "war" against the supernatural forces of "evil." If their actions are consistent with a state of war, then the normal rules of the American justice system may not apply. This is particularly true post-September 11th. In the alternative, Buffy may justify an extralegal approach to supernatural criminals (vampires) in the same manner that many Americans advocate special rules for certain categories of human offenders (sexual offenders) who are judged to be beyond redemption.