Defining justice: philosophical perspectives and interpretations

¶ … Justice

What is Justice?

To me, justice means more than wrongdoers receiving punishment for their misdeeds, but also that people get rewarded when they behave in an exemplary manner. Essential to my concept of institutionalized justice is the idea that the criminal justice system should not become involved in a situation where a person has not caused harm to society, or where a person may have caused harm, but did so with the honest, reasonable, and rationale belief that his or her actions would not cause harm or would actually do good. While I acknowledge that written laws help form and shape the criminal justice system, I believe that moral beliefs are far more central to the justice system. Therefore, in order to determine whether or not Dale's punishment was justified, one must first investigate whether or not Dale behaved in a moral manner.

Although Dale shot his ailing brother, there is little evidence to support a homicide charge. Mike clearly had an intent to commit suicide; he wrote a suicide note. Furthermore, Mike's decision to commit suicide was based on his understanding that his cancer diagnosis gave him only a limited time to live, and that he would be facing tremendous pain if he waited to die from that cancer. Mike engaged his brother Dale in his decision to commit suicide. In fact, Mike asked Dale to be the agent of his suicide; having Dale put tranquilizers into his meal and then eating that meal. Dale was not acting on an independent decision to kill Mike when he shot him after discovering that the tranquilizers had not killed him. On the contrary, Dale was simply trying to carry out Mike's wishes to end his life.

However, the fact that Dale was acting on Mike's wishes does little to determine the morality of Dale's actions. In many cultures, suicide itself is an immoral taboo, and helping someone commit suicide is equally taboo. However, there is a growing awareness of personal autonomy, and a feeling that it is not society or the legislature's place to determine whether or not someone should have the ability to end his or her own life. The fact is that reasonable people can differ in their opinions of whether or not assisted suicide is moral or immoral. Dale clearly believed that he was acting in a moral manner because he believed that he would be keeping his brother from experiencing tremendous pain and suffering. Furthermore, his belief was reasonable; there is growing public support for legalized assisted suicide and his concerns about his brother's welfare were based on Mike's terminal cancer diagnosis. Therefore, Dale's sentence was not an example of justice.

However, the fact that Dale's sentence was unjust does not mean that the prosecutor erred in deciding to charge Dale. While her personal beliefs about assisted suicide should not have motivated her decision to prosecute, the job of a prosecutor is to enforce community moral beliefs, which are expressed by legislative decisions. In order to determine whether or not the prosecutor's decision to prosecute was appropriate, one would need to look at the state's criminal code and see if and how it addressed the issue of assisted suicide. Only then could one determine whether the prosecutor's actions were appropriate.