Chapter 1:
Crime: An action or omission that constitutes an offense that may be prosecuted by the state and is punishable by law. People commit it to fulfill their needs, to fit in and etc.
Law: The law is a skeleton or framework for justice. It is only one institution in the study of justice.
Justice study is interdisciplinary including: the study of law, philosophy, social studies (e.g. psychology, sociology, history), political science, criminology. 2 common rules apply to considering the issues and topics of justice :
1. Putting our own ethnocentrism aside
2. We must recognize the perspectives of the marginalized, poor and other minorities in society. Think about everyone in society
Ethnocentrism: belief in the superiority of one's own ethnic group. One group feels they are more superior than another group
Philosophy: is the study of fundamental problems about matters of human existence such as truth, beauty, law, validity, justice in a critical, generally systematic manner by pursuing wisdom through rational and logical argument, not by empirical or statistical methods or evidence.
Social Studies: is the studies human of behaviors. Add empirical ways of knowing, information about the record of human social development to identify patterns, regularities and irregularities.
Political Science: the study of organization, structure and administration of governments in society. Crucial to understand the justice system, the role of courts, corrections and law.
Sociology: the systematic study of social structure. Important to understand justice and fairness in society. The justice system is affected by other social structures and institutions.
Criminology: the study of the cause of crime (its “etiology”). Examines the social setting and interactions of social groups in the cause of crime, also examines biological and psychological causes of crime and focuses on the individual and their free will.
Distributive Justice: One of the first definitions of justice. By Aristotle (2300 years ago) who said that justice consists of righteousness, or complete virtue in relation to one’s neighbors, a state of character, a set of dispositions, attitudes and good habits, consisting of treating equals equally and unequal’s unequally in proportion to their inequality. Difficulties with distributive justice, Are men and women to be treated as equals or unequal because men are different than women? Are people of different skin color different, equal or unequal
Rectificatory Justice: Deals specifically with the justice of transactions: voluntary (such as buying, selling, lending) or involuntary (such as a victim of theft or violence). A judge tries to restore and unjust situation between parties to equality .
There are 4 main popular, everyday meanings of justice:
1. Desert:
Positive aspects: Society recognizes good deeds, unselfish behaviour or extraordinary efforts by an award, social recognition, other accolades.
Negative aspects: punishment or bad consequences for harmful or immoral actions, laziness or incompetence
2. The idea of treating equals equally, “fairly”. Example when hiring someone, a person should be hired for their education and experience not their color, race or gender.
Procedural Fairness: Ensures that everyone