Justitia (sculpture by Nicholas Mayer, photo via Wikimedia)
The statue in the photograph at right is one of the more common images evoked for many people when considering the concept of justice. Here is one of the more succinct interpretations of the sculpture:
The author of this sculpture, named “Scales of Justice”, is Nicolas Mayer, a French sculptor of the XIX century. It is a symbolic representation of Justice.
* The scales symbolize the objective consideration towards the arguments given by the parties to a dispute.
* The blindfold is the symbol to the impartiality at the moment to practice justice.
* The sword indicates justice’s coercion capacity to impose the decision it takes.
Ancient concepts of justice and its embodiment have varied:
A common representation of Justice is a blind-folded woman holding a set of scales. The origin of the Goddess of Justice goes back to antiquity. She was referred to as Ma’at by the ancient Egyptians and was often depicted carrying a sword with an ostrich feather in her hair (but no scales) to symbolize truth and justice. The term magistrate is derived from Ma’at because she assisted Osiris in the judgment of the dead by weighing their hearts. [1]
To the ancient Greeks she was known as Themis, originally the organizer of the “communal affairs of humans, particularly assemblies.” [2] Her ability to foresee the future enabled her to become one of the oracles at Delphi, which in turn led to her establishment as the goddess of divine justice. Classical representations of Themis did not show her blindfolded (because of her talent for prophecy, she had no need to be blinded) nor was she holding a sword (because she represented common consent, not coercion). [3]
The Roman goddess of justice was called Justitia and was often portrayed as evenly balancing both scales and a sword and wearing a blindfold. She was sometimes portrayed holding the fasces (a bundle of rods around an ax symbolizing judicial authority) in one hand and a flame in the other (symbolizing truth). [4]
Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, the idealized image of American justice fit well with Mayer’s sculpture of Justitia. There was an effort at impartiality (although convictions in practice were strongly tilted against minorities and the poor) and reliance on evidence, while the power of the state was used to enforce the decisions.
In the late 20th century, there was a drifting toward nominations to the bench taking political leanings into consideration. This process has intensified in the 21st century and has metastasized into other aspects of the justice system. The Department of Justice was politicized in many ways under George W. Bush, as poorly trained, fundamentalist Christian attorneys were seeded heavily into career positions. In addition, US Attorneys who would not sufficiently politicize their prosecutions were removed in favor of those who would. The Office of Legal Counsel was turned from the executive branch’s legal research resource into a rubber stamp authorization source for any abuse and a “get out of jail free” card for illegality. The Attorney General became the President’s personal attorney and David Margolis elevated his role as the final white-washer of any internal findings of wrong-doing.
Sadly, these miscarriages of justice have not been reversed under Obama, and any attempts at doing so are met with fierce resistance. The Obama Justice Department has been told in no uncertain terms that it is to “look forward, not back” with regard to known acts of torture designed and authorized at the highest levels of the Bush administration along with other known illegal acts such as warrantless wiretapping. Concepts such as the proper venue for trying suspects and the indefinite detention of suspects without charges are now seen as properly decided through political deal-making debated openly in the press as an intentional bypassing of the judicial branch of government by a coalition of the executive and legislative branches.
So now we are at the era of Pre-Justice. This is different from pre-crime as depicted in Minority Report, where people are arrested in advance of crimes they have been predicted to commit. With Pre-Justice, the crimes already have been committed, but the question of being judged can no longer be left to an impartial court guided by the rule of law and the evidence which is available. Instead, those at the upper levels of the executive and legislative branches of the government come together to decide whether a sentence will be imposed and what that sentence will be. For those who have committed crimes on behalf of these new supreme rulers (or those committed by the rulers themselves), no charges are to be filed and no punishment is to be allowed. For those who have been deemed guilty by the supreme rulers and detained solely on their word, punishment is to be doled out through the venue most likely to achieve conviction. For those who it turns out were improperly detained and who have committed no crime, they are to be detained indefinitely without charges, because the supreme rulers deem them too dangerous to release (okay, this bit does border on pre-crime).
Justice in 21st century America no longer resembles the sculpture of Justitia above. Now, her blindfold has been removed and the thumbs of the exectuvie and legislative branches of government are on the pans of the balance. The balance is now held low and the sword is held high to threaten those who would question the wisdom of the supreme rulers.
Oh, and what’s another word for Pre-Justice? That would be prejudice.
