Justice for crime victims: has the time finally come for a radical paradigm shift?
How is it that punishment has become synonymous with justice and that justice has become a euphemism for punishment? How is it that justice and punishment have become almost interchangeable terms? How is it that slogans such as ‘justice for victims’ are invariably interpreted as demands for...
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| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Victimology Society of Serbia and University of Belgrade, Faculty of Special Education and Rehabilitation
2022-01-01
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| Series: | Temida |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.doiserbia.nb.rs/img/doi/1450-6637/2022/1450-66372201007F.pdf |
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| Summary: | How is it that punishment has become synonymous with justice and that justice
has become a euphemism for punishment? How is it that justice and punishment
have become almost interchangeable terms? How is it that slogans such as
‘justice for victims’ are invariably interpreted as demands for more and
harsher punishments. Is punishment truly synonymous with justice? Are crime
victims really bloodthirsty and totally obsessed with a quest for
punishment? A troubling question that has haunted me throughout my
professional life, a question that I spent many sleepless nights trying to
find the answer to, is: How could it be that punishment, the deliberate
infliction of pain and suffering, the deprivation of liberty, or
deliberately putting a human being full of life to death be called or
perceived as justice and be seen as the most appropriate response to
victims’ sufferings? How is it that victims who, as Nils Christie said, are
the primary owners of the conflict (Christie, 1977) whose property rights
were usurped, and whose rightful dues paid to them in the form of “Wergeld”
or the composition was expropriated by the state, were led to believe that
justice is vengeance and retaliation and that the harsher the punishment,
the more just is the judgment? How is it that the theological and abstract
notions of retribution, expiation, atonement and penitence became so
entrenched in people’s minds that no rational thinking, no scientific
evidence, no economic crisis, no humanitarian endeavour seems to be capable
of shaking such religious beliefs or lessening the incessant demands for
punishment? How is it that punishment has become so universally accepted,
extremely popular and so widely practised that people and governments, even
in the harshest economic times, are more than willing to waste billions and
billions of dollars for no other reason but to inflict pain and suffering on
those fellow citizens who have violated man-made laws? The time has come to
ask whether 21st century society has undergone a social, cultural and moral
evolution that makes the retributive ‘justice for victims’ paradigm ripe for
a radical shift? These are just some of the complex and difficult questions
that are begging for answers and that will be examined in this paper. |
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| ISSN: | 1450-6637 2406-0941 |