I've got to say that I am

[ashling]

a little troubled with the "Justice for Trayvon" meme for the same reason that I am always not in favor of that meme for murder victim. Trayvon is dead, he is past justice.

now flame away

[Siwsan]

1. Justice for Travon's family

That's the issue.

[NutmegYankee]

2. The idea of justice is to right (or punish) for a wrong.

Convicting and jailing a murderer is Justice for the victim. Society chooses to not allow the crime to go unpunished.

[ashling]

4. This meme is the same that

families use to justify their calls for the death of a murderer who killed their loved ones. I realize that the death penalty is not a possibility here, but the language is the same.

"Justice" is an abstract concept done on a cosmic scale. Claiming justice for an individual makes no sense.

I am incredulous when someone says: "He/she has to pay for what they did!" Pay what? Pay whom? Is the victim put in a better position because of someone's "having to pay?"



"Social Justice," however, makes sense.

[NutmegYankee]

11. Justice is a very important concept for people.

Civilized society doesn't work if people do not feel it delivers justice. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justice

[ashling]

22. I agree

Unfortunately, the time for justice for Trayvon has passed. He will never get it. We should recognize that this is not going to somehow magically give him justice

[NutmegYankee]

23. I think of it much like completing a task for someone who passed.

Sure, they aren't around to see it finished, but people feel they "did it for the deceased". We give justice to a murder victim by punishing their murderer, making sure that their death wasn't ignored and forgotten. We ensure that the victim mattered.

[ashling]

24. I don't disagree, but what people "feel" and what they get are not necessarily the same thing.

Do you mean to say that justice is about what people feel? Do we seek to do justice in order that people will feel one way or another?

It sound's trite to say that it is "a question of semantics", but in a way it is. In a sense, to do justice is to "make whole" what has been broken. We need to admit that there are some situations that can not be made whole. The injustice done to Trayvon can never bee made whole.

[AtomicKitten]

3. Justice delayed is still justice. I imagine Trayvon's parents are pleased.

[Solomon]

5. The prosecution always represents the victims of

crime while prosecuting on behalf of and for the people of the state. That's how it works. She's supposed to be justice for Trayvon.

Funny how many things never draw attention to some people until a black person is involved.

[ashling]

7. Are you saying that I haven't thought this out

because I am racist? Because that's what it sounds like.

[Typical NYC Lib]

9. No

Though you obviously haven't thought this out.

[ashling]

12. My question was to Solomon

And though I may not have expressed myself well, I have indeed thought this through. What leads you to say that I have not thought this out?

[PatSeg]

15. I understand what you're saying

and I can recall thinking similar thoughts in the past. As for Trayvon, I think it is important that this goes through the proper process, not for what it will do for that unfortunate child, but hopefully it may prevent it happening to someone else's child in the future.

[ashling]

17. Exactly

[PatSeg]

21. In addition,

it shines a spotlight on the Sanford Police Department as well as police departments all over the country. Hopefully they will be more conscientious when investigating murders in the future because of the media that this case received.

[Solomon]

10. Look, the phenomenon never ceases to amaze me.

You see it all the time with Obama. How many times have his distractors complained about something he's done because it never occurred to them to notice that the other presidents did it too?

You don't have to be racist to be inculcated with bias. Hell, we all are. Some of us admit and recognize it, some of us don't.

[Bake]

8. The prosecution does not represent the victim

The prosecution represents the State, period.

And yes, I am a lawyer.

Bake

[ashling]

13. I agree

And yes, I am a lawyer, too.

[Cleita]

6. Justice so it doesn't happen again making any would be Zimmerman's

think twice before acting.

[ashling]

14. What is Justice, an to whom is it due?

an age old question

[Cleita]

16. Justice is being put on trial in a real court room.

It's due to everyone. I wish Osama bin Laden and Omar Ghaddafi had been afforded that justice before they were executed. I Hope Bush and Cheney get their day in court, preferably The Hague, if they can be charged with war crimes. That's what justice is and to whom it's due.

[ashling]

18. "Justice" does not come from a court only.

Justice has been denied to Trayvon and unfortunately nothing "we" or the court system does to Zimmerman can give it to him. That is an irrevocable saddness.

[Cleita]

19. Yes, of all the experiences we have here on earth, death

is the most final and irrevocable.

[MicaelS]

20. To me "Justice" is punishing those who commit

Evil deeds. Punishment first, rehabilitation second.

You punish them by taking away their money, or property, or freedom, or in the most extreme example, their life.