Is it possible to have injustice when you don’t have a just society?
Can there be true injustice in our world? There cannot be true injustice in society when there is prejudice disguised as justice.
We cannot have injustice in our world because society’s application of justice is arbitrary. The people who are doling out “so called justice” themselves are not just. Keep in mind that the concept of justice is different in every country, race, and religion.
For example, in some religions it is okay for a man to have more than one wife, but if that same man practices his religion in Canada, he will be sent to prison. Therefore, depending on what religion you practice or what country you live in, you could be committing a crime. Mormons could say that the Canadian people do not have a just society because Mormons are not able to practice their religious beliefs because Canadian legislators are not of the same faith and their prejudices are coming into play.
The Canadian government is not the only government that tries to legislate justice. The Turkish government, representing a Muslim nation, was considering restoring an adultery ban it repealed in the 1990’s. “Although the Islamic ban on adultery applies to both men and women, in practice unfaithful wives are more likely to be punished than philandering husbands” (Heneghan). The Turkish legislators were said to be considering a maximum prison term of two or three years. This proposed law would not be just when applied to Turkish Muslim women caught in adultery. If you were convicted of the same crime in Saudi Arabia, however, the full punishment is death by stoning or beheading.
A further reason there can not be true injustice in society is the miscarriages of justice in the legal and penal systems. The case of Rubin “Hurricane” Carter is a disturbing example of miscarriage of justice. He was a black middleweight boxer in the sixties when he was charged with and found guilty of a murder that he did not commit. He was released from prison almost twenty years later when new evidence proved his innocence. Guy Paul Morin is another example of miscarriage of justice. He was charged with the murder of nine-year-old Christine Jessup, but DNA tests later proved he was not guilty of the crime he was serving time for. There are numerous other examples of people being wrongfully convicted of crimes. Donald Marshall Jr. “was sentenced in 1971 to life imprisonment for the murder of Sandy Seale. He spent 11 years in prison before being acquitted by the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal in 1983” (Indepth). David Milgaard’s situation is similar in that he “was sentenced in 1970 to life imprisonment for the 1969 murder of Saskatoon nursing aide Gail Miller. Milgaard spent 23 years in prison. The Supreme Court of Canada set aside his conviction in 1992. He was subsequently cleared by DNA evidence five years later” (Indepth). Would these people believe we have or can have a just society?
Justice, just like everything else is arbitrary, relative, and elusive. Society continues to seek justice, but it is unattainable unless the people who are applying justice themselves becomes just. Until society is able to separate prejudice from objective judgement, there can not be a just society. Therefore, there can not be injustice.
Works Cited
Heneghan, Tom. “Muslim adultery ban widespread but rarely enforced.” Reuters AlertNet. Sept. 14, 2004. Reuters Foundation. Sept 24, 2004.
<http://www.alertnet.org/printable.htm?URL=/thenews/newsdesk/L13293073.htm>.
“Indepth: Wrongfully Convicted.” CBC News Indepth. Sept. 15, 2004. CBC News Online. Sept. 28, 2004. <http://www.cbc.ca/printablestory.jsp>.