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PaperclipPerfector  1yr ago (text post)   30037 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of May 8, 2023

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Getting money isn’t “Justice,” and I feel like the legal profession has just gaslit the entire world into believing it is.

I think you'll find that much of the legal system is shaded in the direction of benefitting lawyers.

There’s a reason criminal trials are conducted on behalf of the state and not the victims. It’s because justice is something sought by society against transgressors. Getting money isn’t “Justice,” and I feel like the legal profession has just gaslit the entire world into believing it is. Of course, I think it is very difficult to provide restorative justice to someone who has been physically attacked or raped or obviously murdered. The deed is done, and money won’t magically make it go away.

Justice for a rape victim isn’t their rapist writing them a big check, it’s the rapist rotting in prison and unable to rape more people. That’s why I find statements like the press release for the bill that created this cause of action a figment of lawlogic that’s totally alien to my worldview:

This is a point of view you can to take, but it's not at all obvious, and in fact this is exactly how many societies throughout history handled justice, and it's certainly not new. The entire idea of imprisoning average criminals is a few hundred years old at most, and has only been practical for less than that, and only in rich societies. (Aside from payment, societies also used slavery, exile, execution, torture, and probably other methods I'm forgetting). Similarly for the idea that the state handles everything--polycentric legal systems based on resolving disputes between 2 parties are also very common historically.

I think most victims would be fine with money. For non-murder things.

But society not as much.

The idea of convictions being public record but being able to buy your way out of the prison sentence is interesting. Ancient China did that; murder got you executed and it cost 200 years' worth of a laborer's salary to save your neck. High treason notably was something you couldn't buy your way out of.

This would result in the very wealthy being more or less above the law. Every count of first-degree murder costs you $10 million if you want to see daylight again; lesser crimes carry lesser penalties.

What possible advantage would this have?

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