I found this web page while doing a search for an ansewer to that same question. I am a college student in oregon. I was assigned that same question as the subject of an eng. lit. paper. In researching this question I found myself in a quagmire of opinions,laws,religious interpitation, and politics. When I stumbled across Alaine’s ansewer it was like a breath of fresh air. Her ansewer was so simple, honest, and fair. Thanks Alaine, you pulled me out of the quagmire and put me on the right track!!!

Although I’d agree that “justice” includes aspects of equality and fairness, I’d disagree with her opinion that it’s that simple. It’s no surprise that Scott Meyer found himself in a quagmire of opinions, etc. on the definition of “justice” b/c it’s a very difficult concept to define. Yet, as I’ve told my trial advocacy students, we may disagree about what justice means, but most people recognize an injustice b/c we have all experienced injustices (either big or small). So, I tell my students to engage the jury by telling a story of an injustice. And, with all due respect to Alaine’s opinion, an injustice can occur even with equal treatment. For example, wouldn’t it be unjust to sentence all jaywalkers to life imprisonment? to imprison all persons found within 1 mile of a crime, regardless of whether they meet the description of the suspect? to prohibit all speech against the government? Thus, stubborn or unreasonable equality can be the main reason an action is unjust.

I do agree, though, that philosophy is for kids, too! I’d welcome further debates with Alaine. Perhaps she might help my national security law students to answer the following questions:

1) What is “terrorism”?
2) Who becomes a terrorist?
3) Why does someone become a terrorist?

Thanks for this opportunity to debate a concept so important to the law!

Its great to have a equality of rights to solve the mystery but the world isint fair it is unfair and displaind

Justice is not what is right or what is wrong, but rather it is what we make it. The concept of justice is one that I find to be quite opinionated because it relies on those with power to make decisions based on their bias opinion. It should be a matter of what is right and wrong, but more than often it is not.

what about justice being. getting what you deserve. in old days if you stole something no matter what the value, you would get your hand chopped off. is that justice. no.
fairness and justice are two seperate things right?

Many people say that once we have Justice we will have peace, but look at our goverment we have Justice but never peace. I like her comment on Justice, but in real life its not that simple.

I am a college senior writing a paper for a philosophy class, and her discription is simple as pie. And though it is that simple, to enact such fairness is the hard part. having biased leaders, they are not capable of enacting things for the greater good, but they operate for ‘POPULARITY’ as opposed to bettering society…however, in a perfect world, that wold be so. GOOD JOB KIDDO

I am a Justice student, and quite frankly I agree with her. Giving everyone their fair share would probably foster kinder feelings to others, hence the younger ones giving up some of their fair share.

Girl,i love the way you stated your opion about justice and i stand by your side,”justice is equality.”

Tori

In my highschool english class we are doing a justice unit. For the final essay we have to write a definition essay to define justice. Im not sure its quite as simple as this little girl put it, but she sure did sum it up well.

I am a Ugandan lawyer and I am pleased to associate myself with little Alaine. I must acknowledge that she is being well nurtured by her parents.
Nonetheless, I would add that although there are various opinions on the concept of justice, at least in all settings and cases, it is agreeable that justice is an intertwined human rights ?trinity? concept. It essentially means respecting the rights of a suspect or defendant, protecting the legal interest of the victim, and ensuring the wellbeing of the society. Whereas there are these three core aspects of justice, no single aspect can by itself constitute justice properly so called. Rather, it is the amalgamation of all the three core aspects that make up true justice. This is a view that I encourage people to understand and apply if possible. In many communities, people consider only one aspect of justice and leave out the rest. From the above, it can be deduced that justice is not simply what is right, fair or deserved, but observing the inherent rights of a suspect or defendant, providing the victims with the available legal remedies, and at the same time ensuring the safety of the community.

First off, I would like to say thank you. “out of the mouth come the intentions of the heart.” (The Holy Bible) If there are more kids brought up like little Alaine here, then society begins to have a brighter view or perspective on life and politics. Thank you Alaine! I am a Junior at the University of Oklahoma, and you just answered my question until later days.

I’m a high school senior in the Philippines and our English teacher assigned us a tasked related to justice specifically on “Justice Delayed; Justice Denied”. I’ve been surfing through the net looking for those right words that could place me in the right tracks of our activity and I’m so glad I found this site. Alaine is a bright girl and I’d wish her luck with all her dreams. And thank you so much for helping me.

I agree with this little girl, where a good law is you find justice. This justice must be used equally and fairly. Regardless of money color race parents justice should be blind to all else. Although I would make a case for justice finding the reason why someone commited a crime, not just that they commited a crime. A man whou steals bread to feed is family is desperate, a man who steals to feed his addiction is a criminal.

Quite the answer, however, that is an answer only children give. When you ask an older person they give it more thought because they think of those who are evil. Children rarely understand the evil of the world. Justice is the balance of the scales or beig void of injustice. The world is in constant injustice. A better question is what is injustice. Is it still justice if an innocent man is in jail or that a criminal walks free. Justice in this world is only a fantasy. Humans never learn and there is always injustice so without a God there is none.

Justice is something that happens when the ends justify the means.

I too stumbled on this page by accident while looking for other views than my own while I was answering this question for an essay. The problem with her answer, is that there is no equality. There is no natural right to equality. Some are born mentally “gifted,” while others have to be taken care of from birth because of mental retardation. Whether the subject (of the state a person is born unto) is health, wealth, mental proficiency, sexual proficiency, or even “naturally” great parents, no one is born equal, and no one deserves a right to be treated as such. To believe all are born equal is to be born mentally blind, which proves my point. Regardless of what situation a person is born into, the majority of people have the ability to make their own life as great or as horrible as they want. People should be treated with as much respect as earned, no more or less.

Injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere

I also belived that justice wa equality. im in the tenth grde and i have a forensic and debate class and right now we are studying the topic of justice.when i brought up to the teacher that i considered justice to be a type of equality she sorta questioned it and she said that justice itself had something to do more with law than equality, i then explained to her that equality has alot to do with law therefore it can be known as justice but i need more than just that to proove my point can anyone help me with that?

Justice isn’t about equality, which doesn’t exist. That would be a communist view of the subject. I am middle school student in a gifted education program. We are studying Justice. Up to this point, I have defined Justice as mereley being a way to protect the innocent, using fairness and common sense. I’m still a bit confused on the matter, and it was interesting to hear Alaine’s definition of the subject. I tend to agree with Michelle Slack. (second poster)

I would agree with Alaine when it comes to ideal justice. What many of us are missing is that Alaine is not saying give the same amount of goods to everyone regardless of what they do in life. She is saying if there is cake, everyone deserves the equal amount. If you were to tell her that you had to earn the cake and some earned more than others, she whould probably have said what ever they earned is how you divide it, and it is proportionately equal. The problem is that. How do we divide up the fair shares? And what if someone is, infact mentally or physically handicapped? Do they get more than they deserved because they are so, or do they still only get what they earned? Or how about when someone does something inherently evil. If they are mentally handicapped and cannot understand what they did was wrong, do you still give them the same punishment?