The Setting of an Example

Whenever I hear from any person charged with prosecuting people, “We are going to make an example” or “We are sending a message”, I cringe. When I hear people of the community or the newspaper editors using these phrases regarding a pending case I cringe.

Under the best of circumstances weighing the evidence and determining a just response to a crime is troublesome under the best of circumstances. It takes wisdom to wade through all the stories to determine the facts, understand the dynamics and the heart of the offender, and then for flawed individuals to arrive at an appropriate response. The picture is complicated further by the games police officers, defendants, and lawyers on both sides play.

Whenever I hear the above phrases, or variations thereof, I not only cringe but the first thing I think is that an injustice is set in motion. The prosecutor has moved from wrestling with the facts and putting forward his/her argument to the court to twisting the evidence and seeking a punishment that surpasses the crime. They are out to use the case to send a message to others or to advance their own political agenda (Duke Lacrosse case prime example) and in the process are creating an injustice.

Justice is not about sending a message. Justice properly defined has three elements: the giving of judicious punishment for the crime, correction of improper conduct, and restoration of the offender. Blood lust and rage pushes the first of the three as is noted in the case at this link, http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070118/lf_afp/usjusticesexoffbeat_070118055859

Here we also have an outdated law being applied and used to send a message. In the process the have just opened the door for some who are going through a divorce process to in their pain charge and prosecute their ex for a crime. I suspect that the Michigan law will not be changed and it will be again used, and more frequently at that, to bring injustice into action.

Justice is difficult as it demands wisdom and the holding of emotions in check. I fear that more often than we recognize the law courts are vehicles of injustice.