Article: The Cost of Vengeance: The Psychology of the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Part 2

Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest Larsson stacks the deck in Lisbeth's favor. He pits an incompetent, morally corrupt system against a highly competent moral authority. Lisbeth's judgment of the villains' guilt is not in dispute. Her revenge-taking seems appropriately measured. Her priorities seem beyond reproach. We can live with her choices. They are just and motivated primarily by safety needs. But they are not without cost and, ultimately, are unsustainable. Larsson created a memorable heroine. Would that he had also created a memorable justice system that could replace the one that's broken or have her focus her efforts on system reform rather than circumvention. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest was a step in that direction, but ultimately stopped short10 when Lisbeth again turns to vigilantism to dispose of Niedermann. In the process, Lisbeth makes a fine superhero but a poor model of real-world, sustainable, compassionate justice. We can enjoy the former as a harmless fantasy, just as long as we also recognize the latter.

Footnotes:

Sherman, L. W. and H. Strang, Restorative Justice: the Evidence. London: The Smith Institute, 2007.
Unlike conventional (punitive) approaches to justice-which ask who is at fault and what is the appropriate punishment-restorative approaches ask what harm was done (to all parties) and how the parties to the conflict might repair the harm. While the criminal courts in both Sweden and the United States discourage contact between the so-called offender and the so-called victim, the restorative process deliberately creates a safe space where those parties can come together and, with the help of a facilitator, work toward mutual understanding (including an empathic understanding of the victim's experience) and voluntary agreements about how to move forward.
Gillinson, S., M. Horne, and P. Baeck. Radical Efficiency: Different, Better, Lower Cost Public Services. London: NESTA report, 2010.
The quote suggests that if we treat psychopaths kindly (i.e., withhold severe punishment), we increase the likelihood that they will harm innocent others (i.e., those who deserve our kindness) in the future.
Though psychopathy may seem like an exception, it isn't. Not all people who lack empathy rape or kill, and even studies show that the heritability of most psychopathic characteristics is in the moderate range (h2=.50 to .67) for most people who meet the criteria for psychopathy, suggesting that unique life experiences do contribute to the development of antisocial behavior, even in cases of psychopathy. Data supporting this can be found in C. Patrick's Handbook of Psychopathy.
We really do see them as choices. Though much of the variance in deviant criminal behavior can be accounted for by genetics and immediate familial environment (two lotteries Martin Vanger clearly did not win), the data suggests that even this highly combustible combination of risk factors does not guarantee deviance. Martin Vanger's sister Harriet, as well as Lisbeth herself, are proof that Larsson didn't think so either.
Editors' Note: For a discussion about the propensity for violence, see Joshua Gowin's essay in this book.
Rosenberg, M. Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Compassion, 1999.
In the case of Kim Cunningham, she does express regret about taking the matter into her own hands even though she continues to maintain that Hundley deserved to die. "As I fired that gun," she explains, "all I wanted to do was protect my family, but I ended up damaging it instead."
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest is the last novel of the Millennium series, but there is evidence that Larsson planned to continue the series and presumably would have, if not for his untimely death. It is possible, given this novel's focus on systemic problems, that Lisbeth might have eventually moved away from vigilantism in favor of systemic change. Unfortunately, those stories will continue to be untold.