What Is Meant By “Justice”?
July 15, 2013
Those who continue to demand “Justice for Trayvon” – nearly two days after a jury acquitted the man who shot him – have a strange view of “justice.” To rational minds, having Mr. Zimmerman criminally prosecuted for this act should satisfy this demand, even as he was acquitted of the charges. Those who insist upon more than this seem to be contending that “justice for Trayvon” requires Zimmerman’s punishment – perhaps even death – even though a jury found him not guilty of a crime.
This is a playing out of my definition of “justice: the redistribution of violence.”
Butler Shaffer was Professor Emeritus at Southwestern University School of Law. He is the author of In Restraint of Trade: The Business Campaign Against Competition, 1918–1938, Calculated Chaos: Institutional Threats to Peace and Human Survival, and Boundaries of Order. His latest book is The Wizards of Ozymandias.
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