On Justice

Justice is the virtue willing to give to others what belongs to them. Where a Stanford student was convicted of three felony counts of sexual assault upon a stranger, the issue isn’t the judge’s sentence (punishment) but the victim’s plea for justice, in a statement read by millions.

What was taken from the victim has three parts: her good name, her bodily integrity, her spiritual and mental wholeness and peace. The moral instability of her attacker compounds with that of his father, who complained his son took only 20 minutes to accomplish the crime, and so shouldn’t suffer. This speaks of a society devoid of justice.

How to restore good name and reputation? Confession clarifies responsibility: someone who admits wrongdoing takes to himself what belongs to him, instead of passing it on to his victim.

Loss of bodily integrity requires purification. In the case of murder, for example, purification is part of the meaning of the funeral. What’s the purification ritual for violated women?

Repentance leads to salvation. Spiritual healing requires it; the victim must observe it. ‘We indeed have been condemned justly,’ says the thief in Luke, ‘but this man has done nothing wrong.’ Repentance is differs from remorse displayed to convince a judge. Repentance stands before God and declares who and what I am.

A prison sentence is merely the currency by which a society measures value. Women are valued less here than elite men, surely. But spiritual harm is lasting. Confession, purification, repentance: a trinity.