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Which I don't think is something you can objectively 'pin down'.
That's revenge.
And maybe you can't pin it down, but you can have a process that tries to be as "just" as possible. This is exactly what the justice department supposedly does.
What is the meaning of the word 'Justice'? Particularly with respect to the use of the word in the phrase "Criminal Justice". Is it, or should it be, the purpose of the criminal justice system to confer justice---or something else?
It currently means something else. I'm not aloud to use that language here.
The state needs to remain the victim. We already have a media that has no problem convicting people who have allegedly committed a crime. We have problems with eye witness testimonies that can send someone to prison for life or worse. Allowing the victims to exact revenge is not the answer. Let the state remain the victim.
Frankly, I am not too happy with what people say are rehabilitive measures taken or offered. We have areas where you could have someone with a problem and watch it escalate and lay on the steps of name your court house and beg for help and it just flat out does not exist. Alternately, it is so high priced that people can't gain access.
In the system there are treatment centers that may address one issue but not the core issues. Like we only deal with drugs but not the child molestation, neglect or abuse. So, they go to a class which is high priced so someone can showcase all of the bad things drugs do to the brain and body and that it impacts relationships.......... you don't say?!
We have treatment options that are denied to individuals because they are low intellectual functioning. We have individuals that require medication to function in society and no place for them to go. Hence, the crime.
In theory, these people that leave prisons have paid for their crimes and should be allowed to return to society. Currently, we do not have that in our society. You do not just pay for so many years, you are literally osteracized in the community for ever.
Justice is in the eye of the beholder. Fr to often, 'crimes' that have no victims hold the harshest penalties under 'justice'. Justice and revenge are often the same thing. Depends on the crime, and who meets out said justice. What passes for justice , in the US, is getting rather convoluted these days. Much depends on the judge presiding over a particular case. So, there is no true definition of the word 'justice'. One mans justice is anothers revenge and vice versa.
Location: West Los Angeles and Rancho Palos Verdes
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jtur88
What is the meaning of the word 'Justice'? Particularly with respect to the use of the word in the phrase "Criminal Justice". Is it, or should it be, the purpose of the criminal justice system to confer justice---or something else?
It means the privileged class gets its revenge, and if some of the little people can use the same system for their revenge, then they do as well. It's also a fine way to subvert a society, in accordance with Frankfurt School doctrine.
Not necessarily. Justice can be a reward or a punishment, while revenge is always a punishment.
I guess you mean civil trials. So then, the criminal court system is purely revenge, I guess.
As for civil trials, the award is pretty much based on compensation for the victim. Eg, a company which does something wrong to an individual is charged what the individual can claim it cost him/her, not what it would cost to stop the business's practice.
Justice is one of those words that is more an ideal than a reality. It is hard to pin down in exact terms. The concept of "restorative justice" is probably impossible in literal terms. If someone is murdered, even the execution of a criminal will not bring the victim back to life. If someone has $100,000 stolen from them, returning the money may not be restorative justice either. This may take years. The victim may have lost innumerable opportunities in the meantime.
Justice is more easily defined I think in terms of negatives. In other words, its probably easier to talk of "injustice". Someone going to prison for a crime they did not commit is clearly injustice. Than there are terms like "social justice" which become even more nebulous. The concept of social justice would be that one who plays by all of society's rules does not end life in terms of absolute poverty.
I think the notion of "justice" should serve as a goal for us rather than a reason to disparage life. We should work to create a good system of laws, good people to administer that system, and a means to educate citizens about the law. I get tired of those who choose to ***** and whine about how something (usually that affects them) is "unjust", but show no interest in helping to create a workable system. God may be the great "lawgiver", but it is up to us, his servants on earth, to administer that system.
Justice is an interesting concept. Sometimes we think if a certain thing happens it will constitute justice, but it does not work that way. Take a victim of a malpractice case, who loses time, money, relationships, health, work, suffering......does 2 million dollars make it go away? No, the person may have some financial resolve, but all the problems that existed continue to exist. Justice is abstract. Take parents who lose a child to a murderer, nothing that person gets whether it is jail time or death, restores the innocent family to where they were. Simply, there is no way to measure it.
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I'm not aloud to use that language here. 
you don't say?!
