Justice in society must include both a fair trial to the accused and the selection of an appropriate punishment for those proven guilty. Because justice is regarded as one form of equality ,we find in its earlier expressions the idea of a punishment equal to the crime. Recorded in the Bible is the expression "an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth." That is, the individual who has done wrong has committed an offense against society. 46 ) To make repayment for this offense ,society must get equally balanced, which can be done only imposing an equal injury upon him. 47) This conception of deserved-punishment justice is reflected in many parts of the legal codes and procedures of modern times, which is illustrated when we demand the death penalty for a person who has committed murder. This philosophy of punishment was supported by the German idealist Hegel, who believed that society owed it to the criminal to put into operation a punishment equal to the crime he had committed. 48) The criminal had by his own actions denied his true self and it is necessary to do something that will eliminate this denial and restore the self that has been denied. To the murderer nothing less than giving up his own life will pay his debt. The demand for the death penalty is a right the state owes the criminal and it should not deny him what he deserves.
Modern jurists have tried to replace deserved-punishment justice with the notion of corrective justice. The aim of the latter is not to abandon the concept of equality but to find a more adequate way to express it. It tries to preserve the idea of equal opportunity for each individual to realize the best that is in him. 49) The criminal is regarded as being socially ill and in need of treatment that will enable him to become a normal member of society. Before a treatment can be put into operation ,the cause of his antisocial behavior must be found. If the cause can be removed, provisions must be made to have this done. Only those criminals who are incurable should be permanently separated from the rest of society. This does not mean that criminals will escape punishment or be quickly returned to take up careers of crime. It means that justice is to heal the individual, not simply to get even with him. If severe punishment is the only adequate means for accomplishing this, it should be administered. 50) However, the individual should be given every opportunity to assume a normal place in society and his conviction of crime must not deprive him of the opportunity to make his way in the society of which he is a part.