Modernizing the Idea of Justice

This article deals with justice itself in the event of guilt, not the entire judicial process. There are 3 points to execute when properly administrating justice: Neutralizing the threat: If the case deals with a violent or potentially violent situation the party or parties that pose the threat must be removed from society until they are no longer a threat. This means that bail should be done away with for any case involving violence or potential violence. Paying compensation and punitive damages: Full compensation should be immediately paid to private parties that are the victims of the case by the government (with no taxes). This deals with both material and social loss as defined by legislation. The government must then force the guilty party or parties to pay this amount as well as all further costs and damages acquired by the government and society itself (including imprisonment fees if applicable). Assets of this value owned by the guilty party or parties must be seized by the government to fulfill this purpose (first liquid, then fixed if necessary). If there is still a remaining balance it must be paid through labour. This labour may be carried out during imprisonment or freedom depending on the situation. The labour will only be forced as a last resort. Guilty parties should receive reasonable pay when conducting labour while imprisoned. Certainly in instances they are working for a private corporation it will have to be reduced to provide the corporation incentive for hiring them, but this reduction must be reasonable. Any guilty party or parties should only be permitted to live in basic income housing or less (prison or halfway housing) until all compensation has been paid. Rehabilitation: If the crime's severity calls for imprisonment the guilty party or parties should never be released from prison or a halfway house until they have been determined be rehabilitated by a judicial psychologist. Judicial psychologists will have access to all prisoners and information of prisoners within their jurisdiction. Judicial psychologists will have the power to deem any criminal in their jurisdiction rehabilitated and transfer them from prison to halfway housing or release them from halfway housing. Ideally, the success rate of judicial psychologists decisions will determine the success of their career. Obsolete Motives for Justice Punishment and revenge are the primitive motives for justice in many types of crimes. These should be done away with completely because they have held back the justice system and society. Putting emphasis on punishment takes away from the effectiveness of the 3 points above by clouding what should be the clear water of justice. And putting emphasis on revenge completely blinds a person in emotion, causing them to lose sight on how to reduce victims' and society's losses as much as possible. The primitive justice systems of the world have often addressed the 3 necessary points, but not sufficiently. The end result is a massive economic loss to civilization that should have been dealt with ages ago. It is important to address justice from a practical standpoint rather than subjective emotions. Crimes Committed by the Mentally Ill Mentally ill individuals in a modern civilization should receive the help they need before they become a danger to society, this is the most efficient way to deal with such a situation. But this is another topic. And until that goal is realized, if they cause a problem, they still need to go through the same process as others. Forgiving guilty parties because of their mental state is an unfair burden on all victims involved. Determining Compensation It must be clear that for each crime there may be loss to victims directly, victims' families or households, society (companies, social groups, and other organizations), and the government (police and judicial expenses, all related clerical expenses, and expenses acquired by prisons and halfway housing). All of these parties must be compensated. All crimes must have a currency value calculated, this goes for both financial and social losses. It will be the job of judicial economists to determine these values. In cases involving permanent injury or death there needs to be a relatively high base value, and depending on the victim's education, contributions, and potential contributions, without these losses due to the crime, this amount will be compounded. In cases involving material loss, for example, automobiles, it is much easier to determine. But the rule should be the market value of all individual parts of the vehicle is used rather than the market value of the vehicle itself. This generally gives a higher and more accurate value of what the victim has put into it. This concept should be applied for all applicable material losses.