What exactly is justice? The question comes loud and clear after a murderer, released from Massachusetts custody by a judge, settled in Washington State and allegedly killed two people over a grudge, involving $50.
The real, natural world has no justice in the human sense. Predators kill the weak or vulnerable in order to eat. Tornadoes touch down wherever they touch down. Wild fires devour trailers and mansions alike.
So, justice is a changeable and evolving concept of the human mind. It is not a natural absolute. Religion was the exclusive arbiter of justice in most societies until recent human history. The current cultural clash between religions and judiciaries around the world is a major human evolutionary stage. Secular justice, based on evidence, science, debate and education of jurors, is an improvement over torture, guessing and prejudice in resolving criminal situations.
Modern legal justice struggles with the conflict between precedent and science. Precedent, a vestigial pillar of the Law, which can lead to plainly stupid decisions like the Washington case, is slowly giving way to informed scientific considerations. Enlightened justice is fluid and extremely well informed in the moment. It does not fall back on precedent or religion rather than taking advice from the most current expertise available in each case. Stagnant, uninformed law is bad law. It becomes a pseudo-religious impediment to true justice.
As a person who can be and has been judged "less than equal" in my own life, due to biological circumstances out of my control, under the current Law in most of the United States, I have had to use my practice to deal with the anger and resentment which injustice can cause.
Practice can be a system of internal justice in your own life.
