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What Justice Means to Me
The definition of justice can mean many different things for many different people and can also vary from profession to profession. According to The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition (n.d), to do justice is defined as to act or treat justly or fairly. But, where everyone’s opinions differ is on what exactly is just and fair. Some people may believe that it is just and fair for a murderer to be sentenced to death and other believe that is inhumane and the murderer should be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. In this paper I will tell you what justice means to me in general as well as what it means to me as a future juvenile probation officer.
In general, justice to me means that a criminal must be punished for the crime that he/she has committed. To be just and fair, the punishment must fit the crime. For instance, you would not want to seek the death penalty for someone who only committed burglary and you would not want to give someone only one to two years in prison for murder. The punishment should also increase for repeat offenders. The victims and victim’s families should be able to feel some kind of peace and closure from the punishment given to the criminal.
As a future juvenile probation officer, justice does not mean punishment. Yes, there may be some punishment involved, but rehabilitation means more. As juvenile crime rose throughout the 1980’s and 90’s, public policy makers had little choice but to begin implementing more punitive sanctions based on the offense that was committed rather than the offenders characteristics. This only led to a 366% increase in juveniles in adult jails and proved to be less effective than more therapeutic attempts to deter future criminal behavior by juveniles. (Hinton, Sims, Adams, and West, 2007) Children are still young enough to learn from their mistakes and can be rehabilitated you...