单项选择题
| 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 Old Testament 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
offence against society. To make up for his offence, society must get even. This
can be done only by doing an equal injury to him. This conception of retributive
justice is reflected in many parts of the legal documents and procedures of
modern times. It 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. He believed that society owed it to the criminal to give
a punishment equal to the crime he had committed. The criminal had by his own
actions denied his true self and it is necessary to do something that will
counteract this denial and restore the self that has been denied. To the
murderer nothing less than giving up his own will pay his debt. The demand of
the death penalty is a right the state owes the criminal and it should not deny
him his due. Modern jurists have tried to replace retributive 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. 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 administered, 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 front the rest of the 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 punishments is the only adequate means for accompanying this, it should be administered. However, the individual should be given every opportunity to assume a normal place in society. His conviction of crime must not deprive him of the opportunity to make his way in the society of which he is a part. |