Justice

noun

• just behavior or treatment
• the quality of being fair and reasonable
• the administration of the law or authority in maintaining this
• (Justice) the personification of justice, usually a blindfolded woman holding scales and a sword.
• a judge or magistrate, in particular a judge of the supreme court of a country or state.

Origin:
late Old English iustise 'administration of the law', via Old French from Latin justitia, from justus

http://oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/justice
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Devin Therese Trego
 

“Justice? – you get justice in the next world, in this world, you have the law.”

William Gaddis, A Frolic of His Own

“I do not pretend to understand the moral universe. The arc is a long one. My eye reaches but little ways. I cannot calculate the curve and complete the figure by experience of sight. I can divine it by conscience. And from what I see I am sure it bends toward justice.”

Theodore Parker, a sermon, 1853

 

I sometimes suggest to my clients that, for the sake of their own sanity, they stop using the phrase “the justice system,” and begin to use “the court system.” To do otherwise is to open themselves up to unhealthy levels of cognitive dissonance. The fact is, the court system as it is accessed by the vast majority of litigants has precious little to do with justice. Instead, trial courts apply admissible evidence to relevant law, hoping that the myriad rules and laws that they are bound by will in the end land them somewhere tolerably near a just result. Technical arguments about rules of procedure and evidence are the trees for which the forest, justice, is unseen.

Only a tiny fraction of cases ever go beyond the trial court, meaning that almost every participant in the court system never gets the opportunity to truly address the larger issue of justice as it applies to their case. Even at the highest level of appeal, the law is not judged primarily on how just it is, but on its adherence to other laws and the Constitution, a document that is undoubtedly great, but also flawed. A verdict or opinion that is ostensibly within the bounds of the law is not in and of itself just. The law is merely a tool – an often imprecise and consistently manipulated tool – that at its best points us toward the most just result.

On the day before the Supreme Court struck down the so-called Defense of Marriage Act, a law which directly perpetrated injustice, that same Court invalidated key sections of the Voting Rights Act, a law which directly addressed injustice. Moments after the VRA ruling came down, states that previously had to seek review before making changes to laws that would affect voting rights began the process to pass the very same laws that were previously denied under that review. Moments after the DOMA ruling, a judge in New York halted the deportation hearing of Steven Infante, based on the fact that his New York marriage to his partner of nearly ten years, Sean Brooks, once recognized by the federal government, could qualify him for a green card as the spouse of a U.S. citizen. The moment these decisions leave the legal world of argument and procedure, they have immediate and profound real world effects. The law, imperfect and insufficient tool that it is, is also one of the most powerful. Taking every joy and every pain in stride, we must use it to pound away at that long arc of the moral universe to keep it bending, even if only slightly, toward justice.

 

Devin is an attorney for a domestic violence and sexual assault program. She represents survivors of domestic and sexual violence in protection from abuse and family law matters. She roots for the underdog in everything except baseball, where she roots for the New York Yankees. She lives in Northeastern PA with her cat and two dogs.

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Grace Clancy Riker
 
Just us.
No we can't do it alone Though sometimes it feels like it's Just us.
Just us against the world- a wall of gospels and what is "right" When were just fighting for what we believe in and what is truly right of heart.
Just us fighting for future ones so that their determination of love may not be condemned As ours once was.
Just us - the lovers, the fighters, the 'sinners' loving with open arms and hearts - desiring to be heard and understood.
Just us - our tears and our many messages ignored.
Just us - for Justice.
 Grace just graduated with her Bachelors in English from Misericordia and is continuing Graduate School at The Queens University Belfast in Ireland for Drama and Performance in September.  She is an avid Gay Rights Activist and Brain Aneurysm Awareness supporter.  For Grace, Love is Love and life is too short to worry about anything else in the world.  She is a friend to all. Writing is her outlet and the place for her brain to explode all of the little bursts of thoughts that she thinks throughout her day.

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David Doty

“Justice:  In Search of Meaning”

With Apologies to

Viktor Frankl, Bruce Geller, John Godfrey Saxe, and Lewis Carroll  

Once upon a time last week in the “The Land of Presumed Righteousness and Supremacy” five students from the Hallowed Halls were dispatched to complete the task of filling their cups with knowledge, marketable skills, and, if possible, a small measure of wisdom.  “Your final assignment” challenged their esteemed Mentor “if you accept it, is to learn the true meaning of the most commonly used and abused word in our language” 

 

“Surely such a word must be silly and irrelevant.” the students protested.  “All the important words and concepts have been thoroughly studied and analyzed over the centuries by brilliant scholars such as you.   Any word so overused and misunderstood would certainly not be a worthy focus for our final Rite of Passage.  What trivial word would you have us analyze?”

 

One by one their Mentor locked her challenging glare like a laser on each of them.  She methodically closed and picked up her folder.  As she turned and deliberately walked to the door, one word echoed throughout the lecture hall.

“JUSTICE”

Thus went the five with determination etched on their faces and confidence worn on their sleeves.  They would search the corners of the world for the true meaning of this simple, oft-used word.  Each returned on the appointed day and hour to share their new-found wisdom with their Mentor and their fellow soon to be graduates.

 

The First smugly boasted that he had secured audience with the world’s most esteemed philosophers, both past and present.  “I learned that Justice is an authoritative commandment of God.  As such it is a pillar of divine or natural law.  The principals of Justice are objective and self-evident, but only to those expert in the world of philosophy.  Common folk must trust these philosophers to navigate the Ship of State for them.   The Mentor scoffed “It would seem that you have simply concluded that Justice is like a fine wine.  Your philosophers cannot define it, but they know it if and when they see it. I’ll not have you guide my ship.  But I would gladly share your selection of a dry Merlot.” 

 

The Second proudly declared that she had taken a more pragmatic strategy choosing to dwell in the midst of those who administer justice for society.  “Those that truly understand justice, practice it.  Those that don’t, simply talk obscurely about it.  I observed and took part in the rituals of those chosen to judge the innocence or guilt of the accused, as well as to determine the most  just punishment for the guilty.   Their creed is “The Punishment Shall Fit the Crime;   Indeed, when a murderer has been executed, these Administrators of Justice reassure themselves by declaring that ”Justice has been Served.”  The principal of “An Eye for an Eye” has been promoted for thousands of years, and has stood the test of time.  I submit, therefore, that retribution and retaliation are central to the meaning of justice.  The Mentor smirked.  “Do you not find it a moral contradiction to punish a murderer with murder?  Does the commandment say, ‘Thou shalt not kill, but we may kill you’?  The student opened her mouth to speak, but could find no fitting words.   

 

The Third, having observed the embarrassment suffered by his colleagues, made a more cautious presentation.  “I sought the meaning of justice, Madame Mentor, by interviewing hundreds of victims of crime and their loved ones.  It soon became apparent that, when they spoke of seeking justice, their true intent was revenge.   Yet, when the verdicts and the offenders had been executed, they had seldom gained satisfaction.  Revenge is but an empty promise.  After a murderer has been put to death, the victim remains dead.  It would seem I learned more about what justice is not, than what it is.  “Wisdom gained nonetheless” the Mentor reassured him.

 

The Fourth, pumped up with renewed confidence, spoke of seeking wisdom in the bowels of the world’s most renowned libraries. She boasted of spending long dreary hours digesting treatises on “Justice” both ancient and modern.    “My critical analysis has convinced me that Justice is but a synonym of ‘Fairness’.  In matters of civil and criminal dispute alike, the crux of the matter is not the outcome but the process.   The “veil of ignorance” encourages us to ask if the dispute resolution process was truly ignorant of and blind to the social status, ethnicity, gender, age, and other characteristics of the disputants.   “An admirable goal indeed.” conceded the Mentor.  “But how often is it attained?  Is it a reality or an illusion?” Looking defeated the student conceded “Seldom at best.  Justice and Fairness are illusory dreams to be sure.” She sank back into her chair deflated of her earlier confidence.

 

The Fifth and final student  blustered  that he had pursued his search in a much larger and more meaningful arena than those chosen by his misguided fellows.  “I broadened my scope to analyze the justice evidenced by society as it distributes among its members its crucial resources, such as wealth, power, respect, etc.  I discovered many theories of  distributive justice.  The most noble by far simply asserts:  ‘From each according to their abilities;  To each according to their needs’.   Once again the Mentor brought her student back to earth asking “Reality or illusion?  Have those hallowed principles ever been successfully implemented?”  The student’s shoulders slumped and he silently averted his gaze to his shuffling feet.

The Mentor then challenged her students to defend their positions in debate.

And so these budding academes
Disputed pompous and long,
Each advanced  his or her own view

With words both bold and strong,
Though each was partly in the right,
And all were in the wrong!

“Take heart!” the Mentor consoled them.  “Your assignment was much more challenging than you knew.  A famous cat once wisely said ‘If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there.  And if our goal is simply to get to ‘any somewhere’, we are sure to do that if we only walk long enough.  But how will we know when we arrive?’

 

Please, dear students, give careful consideration to the perspective that justice is in such short supply simply because we cannot agree what it is.”

 David is semi-retired which translates to mean he is busier than ever. He serves as Coordinator of the Interfaith Center for Peace and Justice in Wilkes-Barre and as a member of the Founding Board of Café Grace, which will be a “pay what you can afford” café. He is nearing completion of his first novel, “Promises to Keep”, which has a central theme of social justice. Stay tuned.
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Virginia Grove

...for all...

Through fifty-two
letters or primary
colors their tertiary
hues or major
notes and minors
the bars and lines
written or spoken
drawn or painted
sung or played
curled or pounded
this language
this expression housed
in story born of story
or experience
born of life
stretches forward
momentous momentum
moving those
who dare to be moved
into links,
holding where
each touches each,
where connection
roots us in a field
we've always shared
though we are
frequently focused
fully above
ground, lacking full
understanding
of this structure
holding us up
these fields where we,
crops to fulfill
more crops, cut
other crops down,
pull out roots
biology,
history,
and toss ones
deemed less
 
But for all,
we hear, for all,
is liberty
and justice
for all
we know
forward exists through
us, recognition of
commonality, wonder
with difference,
each responsible in the field,
or bar,
on the line,
in speaking
or writing
or drawing
or painting
or playing
or singing
songs sutchering
wounds
in various stages
of healing,
each responsible
for all