<p>Lynching is a form of collective violence in which civilians aggressively target an individual or group accused of committing a crime or violating an implicit social contract. This study investigated an explanatory model of the psychosocial mechanisms underlying favorability toward lynching, focusing on individuals’ levels of moral judgment, empathy, and the social and emotional motivations that drive lynching. Special attention was given to whether these factors vary in response to heinous crimes versus property-related offenses. The sample comprised 536 Brazilian individuals, ranging in age from 18 to 71 years (<i>M</i> = 34.4; <i>SD</i> = 11.82). Structural equation outcomes modeling revealed that the degree of moral judgment significantly influenced favorability toward lynching in the context of heinous crimes, mediated by both social (<i>b</i> = 0.469, <i>SE</i> = 0.099, <i>p</i> = .001) and emotional motivations (<i>b</i> = 0.169, <i>SE</i> = 0.071, <i>p</i> = .017) for lynching. In contrast, the moral judgment’s influence on favorability toward lynching in response to property-related offenses was mediated by social motivations (<i>b</i> = 0.876, <i>SE</i> = 0.092, <i>p</i> = .001), but not emotional motivations (<i>b</i> = 0.028, <i>SE</i> = 0.058, <i>p</i> = .625). Empathy did not moderate the influence of moral judgment in any of the lists of motivations according to the types of crime. These results may support interventions that consider the multifactorial nature of favorability to lynching, with the promotion of post-conventional justice thinking as a strategy for its reduction.</p>