Justice

2 Key excerpts on "Justice"

• 

  eBook - ePub

  Toward Justice

  Broadening the Study of Criminal Justice

  • Kristi Holsinger, Lori Sexton(Authors)
  • 2017(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  Sociolegal scholars, particularly critical legal scholars, focus on the inability of the law to achieve social Justice because of the difficulty of using the law to meet substantive (or outcome-focused) Justice demands (Milovanovic, 2003). American law, as a “formally rational” system, is based on notions of equality where all legal actors (all citizens) are assumed to be equals (Milovanovic, 2003). The reality is that individuals have different capabilities, attributes, and resources—differences that the legal system does not always recognize. An important component in capstone classes involves discussing the idea that equality before the law does not always acknowledge individuals’ or groups’ substantive differences, including differences in access to resources. The difficulty in meeting these demands through the use of law parallels the problem with identifying “Justice” as either “fairness” or “equality” and with conflating fairness and equality when conceptualizing Justice. A few students argued that “equality” or “fairness,” on their own do not encompass the entirety of the value judgments that are made when determining whether something is “just.” Therefore, it may not be surprising that some students preferred to identify Justice as morality, or incorporated morality in their definitions.

  Several students included notions of morality in their definitions of Justice, and these conceptions reflected Justice in the most positive light. Both dictionary definitions and those offered by students included the concepts “morality,” “righteousness,” “distinguishing right from wrong,” and “moral rightness.” Some students defined Justice as, “to make sure everyone is getting the treatment that he or she deserves morally.” Moral definitions depicted Justice as a proactive process. For example, one student wrote, “Justice means doing something for the greater good.” Another student wrote that Justice “brings hope to the less fortunate, empowers the powerless, and strives to attain a perfect world.”

  The difficulty of defining Justice given competing demands for equality and fairness is evidenced in some students’ definitions of Justice as a combination of multiple elements. For example, a student stated, “Justice is simply this: a mixture of equality, moral rightness, and law.” In addition, another student defined Justice as, “the fair, moral, ethical treatment of all people, all of the time.” Incorporating several concepts may be the least precise, but perhaps the most accurate, of definitions of Justice because these conceptualizations acknowledge the complexity of the term and embody the role of balance. For example, emphasizing “equality” in one situation or circumstance and emphasizing “fairness,” or “morality” in another may more sufficiently meet Justice demands. Each element identified may be an important part of Justice, but is not sufficient in itself to constitute Justice as a whole (see Bell, 1965). A few students demonstrated this idea through the concept of balance. For example, one wrote, “Justice is a continual balance in relationships which adapts through time and social or worldly conditions,” and another student stated, “to maintain balance… is the epitome of Justice.” One student’s personal definition of Justice as embodying the concept of compromise illustrates the idea of prioritizing one or more elements of Justice over others to achieve balance. Balance in this sense may not evoke the concept of “equality,” but nevertheless is important in achieving Justice.

  Sign up to read

  Learn more about book
• 

  eBook - ePub

  A Practical Guide to Ethics

  Living and Leading with Integrity

  • Rita Manning(Author)
  • 2018(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  In the just society, everyone has to be committed to being just, but this is just the beginning. A just society would not work very well if everyone had a different notion of Justice. Instead, in the just society everyone must accept roughly the same principles of Justice. There are two different dimensions of Justice: procedural Justice and substantive Justice. In a just society, all the basic social institutions conform to these widely shared principles of Justice. In addition, in a just society all these principles must be public. This means that everyone who is reasonably attentive knows what the principles are, and it means that the principles are available in some way so that people can refer to them. Any changes must be made with ample time for publicity about the nature of the changes.

  There are three basic parts of procedural Justice: (1) All decisions are made impartially; (2) rules and procedures are public and applied consistently; and (3) no arbitrary distinctions are made between people. So if someone is a just judge, he or she won’t favor friends over strangers, but will apply the law impartially to all. If the judge uses a standard of decorum in her courtroom, for example, he or she will apply it in the same way to everyone who appears in the courtroom. Finally, the judge won’t favor some people over others on the basis of some arbitrary standard, such as whether they are tall or short.

  So far what we’ve said about the just society is relatively uncontroversial. There are other areas of Justice that people disagree about. Here we will touch on just three: democracy, power, and equality. We will not be arguing for any particular position on these (although we certainly have positions), but we will describe the options and arguments that you need to consider in order to decide for yourself what should be included in the just society.

  Many people in the United States simply assume that the just society must be democratic, but not everyone would agree with that assumption. Plato made an interesting case for a quite different society in his dialogue The Republic .1

  Sign up to read

  Learn more about book