Law And Justice

[jw5]

Some people consider them to be the same thing.
In Taiwan, the minsiter in charge of legal matters is apparently called the Justice Minister.
Law and justice are clearly not the same thing, although there is a conscious effort in most countries to have laws that will result in justice. But in reality, this doesn't happen in many cases.

For example, if a drunk driver causes an accident and kills someone. I'm not certain about this, but it appears that some of them don't even get a jail sentence. A typical punishment would be a year's suspension of their license and a fine, of perhaps $3,000. Perhaps this is the law as it is, but how is this justice? A year's suspension? In my opinion, he should get a lifetime suspension. A jail sentence of at least a few months, and some compensation to the victim's family and dependents. If he has to work for the victim's family for a couple of years, so be it. Somone for killed, for goodness sakes.

Another example is drug trafficking. I'm well aware of the ills of drug addiction and I'm not arguing to abolish the death penalty for drug traffickers. But there has to be over-whelming evidence of that. Plus a history or track record.
What worries me is that while trying to weed out drug trafficking totally, you may get cases where unknowing mules or innocent people who have been set out by people they know or even strangers will happen. There may even be cases where the drugs are not a huge amount and for "recreation". The death penalty for even first time traffickers is very risky, for all these things could be possible. A stiff jail term may be more appropriate. For someone who has a track record of trafficking, then perhaps the death penalty becomes relevant, as it may be too much of a coincidence to be set up twice or more.

What do you guys think about these 2 examples and other examples of law and justice?

 

[Kid278]

Some people consider them to be the same thing.
In Taiwan, the minsiter in charge of legal matters is apparently called the Justice Minister.
Law and justice are clearly not the same thing, although there is a conscious effort in most countries to have laws that will result in justice. But in reality, this doesn't happen in many cases.

For example, if a drunk driver causes an accident and kills someone. I'm not certain about this, but it appears that some of them don't even get a jail sentence. A typical punishment would be a year's suspension of their license and a fine, of perhaps $3,000. Perhaps this is the law as it is, but how is this justice? A year's suspension? In my opinion, he should get a lifetime suspension. A jail sentence of at least a few months, and some compensation to the victim's family and dependents. If he has to work for the victim's family for a couple of years, so be it. Somone for killed, for goodness sakes.

Another example is drug trafficking. I'm well aware of the ills of drug addiction and I'm not arguing to abolish the death penalty for drug traffickers. But there has to be over-whelming evidence of that. Plus a history or track record.
What worries me is that while trying to weed out drug trafficking totally, you may get cases where unknowing mules or innocent people who have been set out by people they know or even strangers will happen. There may even be cases where the drugs are not a huge amount and for "recreation". The death penalty for even first time traffickers is very risky, for all these things could be possible. A stiff jail term may be more appropriate. For someone who has a track record of trafficking, then perhaps the death penalty becomes relevant, as it may be too much of a coincidence to be set up twice or more.

What do you guys think about these 2 examples and other examples of law and justice?

Law is a system of rules while justice is a concept of moral rightness, equality and fairness. They corelates but they are never the same.

If there's unjust law, there never will be justice. Similarly if there's injustice, there never will be just law. The question therefore is how right and fair can the human's mind be.

A drunk driver killed an innocent human, the judge mete out a minimum sentence, it's the judge's opinion. Was that justice, is the human mind base on moral rightness fair. There'll always be questions but there are no straight answers as far as justice is concerned

Capital punishment for drug traffickers, the fact is in drug offences the word "trafficking" covers a wide range of activities. It doesnt matters if you are unknowing mule, been setup by people you know or dont know or the size of the quantity is for self consumption, so long as you are found with the drug and intent to move it, it's trafficking. Even giving drugs to friends in a party is considered trafficking.

Again here it's the judge that will mete out the punishment, again it's the judge's judgment, his opinion. Will there be justice, will the human mind base on moral rightness and fairness when passing sentence to cancel a human life. Having to be deterrent is one thing while having a mind that wants to destroy is quite another altogether.

To err is human, to forgive is divine. Laws and justice dont expect too much of it.