Literature Review On Distributive Justice

In addition to our other rights, we have the rights to enforce the law and judge on our own behalf. We may intervene in cases where our own interests are not directly under threat to help enforce the law of nature. Still, the person who is most likely to enforce the law under these circumstances is the person who has been wronged. The basic principle of justice is that the punishment should be proportionate to the crime. When victims are judging a crime; they likely to judge it of greater severity than an impartial judge. As a result, there will be miscarriages of justice.

Justice is a very important ruling power for both gods and mortals. For instance, in Sophocles' tragedy, Antigone,

The preliminary point into an inquiry of distributive justice is to disconnect the conjunction of “distributive,” and “justice”. For the purpose of this essay, I will inherit and accept John Rawls explanation of justice from A Theory of Justice. “Justice,” according to Rawls, “is the first virtue of social institutions.” Therefore, from a societal perspective, justice as the first virtue negates the utilitarian maxim that a loss of freedom for one would be acceptable if there was a greater good to be shared by others. In a truly just society, all people are treated fair. The questions of individual liberties are taken as settled. In the just society, liberty, rights, and fairness are not subject to a utilitarian calculation nor are they susceptible to political bargaining.

Despite what the dictionary says, there are many definitions of the word justice based on the world’s opinions. The opinions then depend on the situation at hand. There is the discussion of justice for the person who has been hurt, for the person who has conceived a crime, and even for those who have committed an accident. In the end, justice is intended to establish an equal solution for any circumstance. Every person in society deserves to be punished equally for the crimes they have committed to ensure justice is served.

Throughout years in the criminal justice system, women being incarcerated has increased drastically. Since the amount of women offenders increased above male offenders, equality is sought out. There is an expand amount of gender disparities in federal cases. With women seeking equality through justice over the decades, changes should be made within the justice system to provide impartiality, acknowledge the gender difference and it’s importance.

Justice is one of the aspects of life that is hard to run away from. This is because it is one of the social hypothetical agreements known to mankind and in any agreement there are repercussions if one breaks the terms. It is important to understand that the idea of justice is to bring about fairness among people. "Revelation" by Flannery O’Connor and “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by the same author will show the different aspects in which justice is viewed from. It is important to understand these aspects of justice in comparison to divine and legal justice.

According to Batley (2005), restorative justice is about dealing with the damage that was caused as well as addressing the needs of the victim and the offender. The relationship between the two parties and their communities needs to be mended. Zehr & Gohar (2003) further states that restorative justice expands the circle of stakeholders further than that of the justice system. Stakeholders are not just the offender and the government, but the victim and the community members as well.

The term justice is used in some of America's most treasured and valued documents, from the Pledge of Allegiance, to the Constitution, and the Declaration of Independence. Everyone wants to be treated justly whether it's in the courtroom or the local bar. Most people would feel confident giving a definition for justice, but would it be a definition we could universally agree to? Given that justice is a very common term, and something we all want, it's important to have a precise definition. For hundreds of years philosophers have argued, debated, and fought over this topic. Justice can clearly be defined as the intention to conform to truth and fairness. This is true justice.

The criminal justice system views any crime as a crime committed against the state and places much emphasis on retribution and paying back to the community, through time, fines or community work. Historically punishment has been a very public affair, which was once a key aspect of the punishment process, through the use of the stocks, dunking chair, pillory, and hangman’s noose, although in today’s society punishment has become a lot more private (Newburn, 2007). However it has been argued that although the debt against the state has been paid, the victim of the crime has been left with no legal input to seek adequate retribution from the offender, leaving the victim perhaps feeling unsatisfied with the criminal justice process.

The conventional accounts of Justice normally begin by stating a fundamental rule of Aristotle – Justice is to treat equals equally and unequals unequally, and that unequal treatment should be in proportion to the inequality. In everyday life though, justice is seen as an attribute of law, while all laws are not necessarily just. Many great socio- political movements of the world have focused from time to time on unjust laws eg Apartheid laws in South Africa and Caste laws in India. Impartiality and fairness are understood to be the two aspects of justice. But it would be misleading to suggest that Justice refers solely to the fair application of a rule.

Some surprising policies have been made following this justice concept. For example, ''Eye for an eye'' law was made by Mesopotamians to penalized the criminal by doing him the same thing he did or something equivalent. In our modern society, we would think this is horrible and this practice would be forbidden but in these times, it’s a way to increase justice and make their world more equal. Moreover, using a strong military system, Greek civilizations like Sparta have a justice system based on their military order. Some could say that this is not justice because there is not really an establish system but the will to regulate activities of the population is a form of justice for me.

Justice, as one definition in the Oxford-English Dictionary, is the quality of being just or right as a human or divine attribute; moral uprightness; just behavior or dealing as a concept of principle. Those that deserve justice can be both good and bad people, but sometimes outside forces affect whether or not that justice is served, or if it is served in the right way at all. Two classic novels, To Kill A Mockingbird and The Great Gatsby both show how justice can work in both directions, even though both books have characters that did not get what they deserved in the end.

Distributive justice refers to what society or a larger group owes its individual members in proportion to the individual’s needs, contribution and responsibility, the resources available to society or the organization, and society’s or the organization’s responsibility to the common good. In health care, distributive justice requires that everyone receive equitable access to basic healthcare necessary for living (uco.edu. Legal and Ethical Issues in Healthcare/Ethical

give a definition of justice. At the end of Book II he began a detailed

Over the decades, the concept of justice has been continually evolving. This is occurring based upon different moral or legal interpretations. Evidence of this can be seen with observations from Burke (2011) who said, "Few things are of more importance to a society than its concept of justice. This is because it is justice that provides criterion for the legitimate use of force. In the name of justice people are detained, arrested, handcuffed, put on trial and punished. This concept is used to provide every society with some kind of social order. Over the last 200 years, a revolution has taken place with these principles. Our idea of it is what we employ, when dealing with ordinary individuals in daily life including: making agreements, paying bills, resolving disputes and putting criminals in jail. This is a concept that is as old as recorded history and it is familiar to people everywhere. What makes it so unique is that these ideas are constantly changing which focuses on society as a whole and how people are interacting with each other. " (Burke)