Justice and Law

View this 11 minute video Thoreau on Civil Disobedience

Discussion/In-class Assignment

Should judges have more discretion so that they provide a punishment that matches the demands of the particular case, or is better to remove that discretion and ensure equal treatment?

Key Terms

A. Law and Justice are not the same, and can produce different outcomes
B. Justice is more concerned with rights and interests than it is in needs
C. Fairness relates to equal treatment (all are treated the same)
D. Equality (all should have an equal share, regardless of merit or need)
E. Impartiality means treating without special consideration for any person or group

Power and discretion
Authority - unquestionable entitlement to be obeyed
Power- the right inherent role means; to overcome resistance
Persuasion to induce compliance
force - physical coercion 

Discretion and duty
Discretion - Authority to make decisions between choices
Duty - required behavior, action of responsibility  

Any ethical issues in the above video?

​The Deputy (below) is a very good illustration of ethical values. It is in black and white, and obviously old. If you watch it until the end, I know you will see the value in this video.  

Chapter Elements

Distributive Justice
Corrective Justice (Learning Objective 3) "Aristotle"
            A. Substantive justice:
1. How a fair punishment is determined for a particular offense
 2. Just punishment should be proportional to the degree of harm incurred
 3. Remedial justice involves compensation, focuses on victim
 4. Punishment-based systems involve two philosophies
    a. retributive justice: offender must suffer pain proportional to victim’s
    b. utilitarian justice: punishment designed to deter

B. Advantage of Imprisonment

1.  More humane than corporal punishment

2.  It’s incapacitating

3. It allowed offenders to reflect on crime and repent

4. It did not elicit sympathy for offenders from the populace
 C. Procedural justice:

1.      Law is an imperfect system

2.       System of rules for human relation


V. Restorative Justice
            A. Focuses on compensation rather than retribution
            B. Programs require the offender to confront the victim
            C. Involves the victim in deciding offender’s punishment
            D. Offenders remain part of the community; community deals with the crime

E. Origin was part of the community justice movement of the 1970’s

F. In this model crime is viewed as natural and something that should be dealt with by the community

G. Some differentiate between community and restorative justice

A. Most common example: laws that treat some groups differently
B. Issue: can one be a moral person while enforcing or obeying an immoral law?
C. Civil disobedience: nonviolent, public disobedience based on one’s moral beliefs

D. Moral Rights may differ from legal rights, and legal interests may not be moral

E. Important to consider current laws that might considered immoral

F. In some countries different forms of punishment are legally tolerated (torture, death squads)

Restorative Justice
            A. Focuses on compensation rather than retribution
            B. Programs require the offender to confront the victim
            C. Involves the victim in deciding offender’s punishment
            D. Offenders remain part of the community; community deals with the crime

Civil disobedience

CBS Special with the director of the FBI

http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/fbi-director-on-privacy-electronic-surveillance