People talk about a demand for justice, but what exactly are they demanding? What do they mean by the word?
If my child was knocked down and killed by a drunk driver, what sort of justice could I ever achieve? Whatever the consequences - the driver jailed, or banned from driving, or more roadside alcohol tests for drivers - it wouldn't bring my child back to life, it wouldn't lessen the grief, it wouldn't stop the feelings of rage and helplessness and despair. So where is the justice?
Or what about the pregnant woman whose baby dies because of some fatal mistake by a nurse? The hospital can issue a profuse apology, training can be tightened, the nurse can be reprimanded, but that doesn't lessen the sense of misery and loss the woman is going through. What form of justice could possibly make up for this tragedy? Her baby is gone and nothing can change that.
Justice is more an anguished hope than a reality.
In such cases as you cite, justice is not really attainable, but punishment can still achieve worthwhile goals, by deterring at least some cases of similar behavior by others. A harsh punishment for a drunk driver, well publicized, will scare at least some others out of drunk driving, thus possibly saving other lives. And banning a drunk or careless driver from ever driving again is definitely likely to save others later.
ReplyDeleteIn the case of things like robbery, forcing the robber to pay back to the victim the value of what he stole can indeed compensate for the latter's loss.
More to the point, though, a person who willfully inflicts avoidable and unprovoked suffering on another deserves to suffer in return, and this is what most people mean by "justice". I cannot prove this, because "deserving" is a concept not really subject to proof -- it's just something all normal humans sense on a profound level. Every culture on Earth has developed some kind of system, however imperfect, for inflicting punishment on individuals who willfully harm others, whether or not it does the victim any good. Such unanimity suggests an inborn instinct too solidly rooted to be challenged by syllogisms.