Justice - This Is An Opinion Paper

Justice

Justice, as defined by Webster's Dictionary is the quality of being fair or just. This implies that justice would have something to do with being fair. I thought that if one of the things the law and legal system are about is maintaining and promoting justice and a sense of fairness, they might not be doing such a great job. An eye for an eye is fair? No, that would be too easy, too black and white. I could cite several examples where I thought a judge's or jury's ruling was unfair, however I will not simply due to the fact that this is to be about what justice is to me and not what justice was to the particular courtroom situation. I actually do believe in our legal system and I believe in justice. I believe justice is the ideal that we as a society strive to achieve.

The legal system, when looked at closely, is not just but judgment. You can be punished when found guilty in a number of way, but who knows if they are "fair" punishments, an example might be is it fair to the mother of a man who is sentenced to death for his crime or crimes when she herself did nothing wrong and was in fact, quite possibly, a model parent? Is it fair that a convicted murderer may serve 30 years in prison and walk out at the end of his sentence to live out the rest of his life while the victim will never take another breath or see their children or grandchildren live? It is all a matter of opinion, both personal and public.

Why is justice important? Justice is important because although the legal system is not always right, it needs the ideal of justice as something to strive for; the hope of every victim or person affected a crime of any nature. The seeking of justice is a tiring and long quest akin to the seeking of truth, for they are closely linked and without one there may not be the other. Without the understanding of what really happened in an event or place and time, justice is not being sought out and cannot be dealt to those who need it. We have all, at one time or another, felt wronged in some way, shape