Sometimes, the only difference between those two is who's telling the story. But the fact is Justice (as a big capitalized term) is not Prevention. Justice can work in tandem, but it is not the same thing at all.
A good judicial system should have both, in ratio.
Okay, so I was thinking last night and figured this out after I shut my computer down. The point of justice is (or should be) to right the wrong (as much as possible, easy with things like theft, not so easy with others), and to prevent it from happening again. If you're not trying to prevent it, you're just running around smacking people constantly. And it doesn't do anything. Grautitous punishment doesn't do anything worth being called Justice.
The justice system is supposed to embody justice, is it not? Thus the name?
And the concept of justice matters on more personal levels than just abstract systems. If you want to do something to somebody because of what they did, is that justice, or revenge? Will it prevent it from happening again? If not, then it's probably just grautitous vengance that won't actually fix anything, though it might make you feel better. Until they come back for their eye for an eye, and everything turns into poop.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2006-01-10 11:11 am (UTC)A good judicial system should have both, in ratio.
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Date: 2006-01-10 06:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-10 08:34 pm (UTC)Justice isn't what should do both. The Justice system is what should do both.
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Date: 2006-01-10 09:13 pm (UTC)And the concept of justice matters on more personal levels than just abstract systems. If you want to do something to somebody because of what they did, is that justice, or revenge? Will it prevent it from happening again? If not, then it's probably just grautitous vengance that won't actually fix anything, though it might make you feel better. Until they come back for their eye for an eye, and everything turns into poop.