The scales of lady justice. by Wesley

12/5

I have spent the bulk of my adult life defending the underdog.  At times, that meant I represented an injured party against an insurance company.  Plaintiffs often are unfairly judged by the general population because of misunderstood judgments (of juries) that are bandied about by the willfully ignorant for political parties.  Some really are injured parties that deserve compensation. They can not be painted with one broad brush.

Other times, I have represented the accused against the state.  I have believed that the state is often tyrannical and that "justice" is often perverted by vengeance and that our system is broken and the lady with the scales is not blind and that those who vote are also willfully ignorant and that the suburbs are a Truman Show and instill in wide swaths of the population, a warped view of the world.

I believe these things because I'm liberal AND because they are all very true.

But, there is more to it than I have been willing to admit.

In here, this very room, there is an 18 year old kid.  He's funny and light-hearted and playful.  He gets mad when the Texans lose, and he calls his mother every night.  He leads a prayer group at night and often, when he thinks no one is watching, he weeps.

He also has confessed to being a part of a conspiracy of armed robbers who targeted restaurants.  They stuck guns into the faces of hard working poor people, threatened their lives, and stole thousands of dollars.

The state has offered him 40 years in prison and told him they will seek a life sentence if he doesn't accept the deal.

That means for his admittedly horrible behavior, he can not reasonably expect to be home before he is 45.  He will go to prison for at least 27 years for crimes in which no one was hurt.

I wish I could say I knew what was just.  I wish I could say with absolute certainty that my suburban friends are right, that such a judgement is just.  That a child with no criminal history should be cast into the prison system to become an angry 45 year old, who has never lived, unleashed upon the world in 3 decades.

At the other end of the spectrum is the violent gang member I share a cell with.  He is happily a career criminal and has no desire to be anything but.  He is prone to violent outbursts, he gets no mail, no visits, and makes no phone calls.  He alludes to murders in his past, that may be true, or may be lies intended to inspire jail cred.  He has spent the bulk of his life in prison and will continue to do so, and in my opinion, he is why we build jails and should build more.

But what is a just punishment for him attempting to steal a truck in the Woodlands?

And what is a just punishment for people who commit property crimes when they are dumped homeless onto the streets of Houston with no money, family, resources or skills at urban outdoor living.

What is justice?  I know that I have been as blind as I have accused other of being.  But I still do not claim to know what is just.

I do know this: Life is too complicated to paint the accused and the convicted with one broad stroke and either condemn or mitigate our sins as one.  But, I can say, strongly, that the people I have encountered, people in here that inspire revulsion, is far rarer than those that inspire compassion, and that may be the strongest statement of all.  In any case, I realize that I really have no answers, despite all the evidence I collect.