Justice is a concept that is often very hard to pin down to one meaning and, in fact, because of the differences in understanding of the underlying meaning of the word, it is often very hard to come to a consensus on how to best obtain it. After all, how can a people strive together to obtain an even application of justice, if there are many different ideas about what "justice" is. In America today, justice may be best understood as an even application of the rules and laws by which the American people order their society. In as much as, the application of justice is a human responsibility, there will be failures and abuses. Much of the beauty of the American system of justice resides in the features that allow recourse by the convicted to higher courts and political leaders. These features do not guarantee justice, but they may be as close as humans can come to that guarantee.

It is important to understand that justice requires punishment of those who transgress the rules and laws and to understand that the meting out of that punishment is not an act of retribution, but, rather, an act of protection. Laws and their application exist to protect someone's person or property. Throughout most of history, law existed solely for the protection of the sovereign and his property. In a democracy, the sovereign is the body of the people and the law exists to protect the lives, peace and property of the citizens. Justice requires punishment for those who threaten or harm a citizen and without the application of just punishment the security necessary for a democracy to exist can not exist. Retribution or revenge is an emotional and, often, violent reaction to a hurt or loss. Just punishment however is, and must be understood to be, a rational response to a threat to a sovereign citizen or to society. Justice requires that the transgressor be removed from those who he/she would harm. It may require that the transgressor work to repay the society that has been injured.

American society and its system of justice understand that there are some people who may not know that they are doing harm. It also acknowledges that there are sometimes occasions when the transgressor may not be able to prevent themselves from doing harm. While it is never possible to know with absolute certainty what is in the mind of another person, our adversarial legal system provides for the presentation and consideration of mitigating and exculpatory evidence.

Just punishment is often violent. Even forceful removal of a person from his/her home and society is a violent act and, at times, American justice calls for the ultimate act of violence - execution. Violence, however, is not necessarily unjust. Many advocates against imprisonment and capitol punishment try to make the case that in a perfect world, justice would not be violent, but only healing and redemptive. Justice is not concerned with healing, teaching and redemption of the transgressor. Justice is only concerned the protection of innocent persons, and its punishments are only aimed at preventing those who would prey on those innocents from doing so, through removing them from society or through the knowledge that the action of harming other would bring about those punishments. This is not "a perfect world," real people, some of who will prey upon and harm others, inhabit it. Justice and punishment are necessary, if humans are going to live together.

The practice of violence by a society in the search of justice does not teach that society's people that indiscriminate violence is appropriate. The just application of punishment for transgression against others, in fact, shows that the society and its people do not countenance the use of violence and force against citizens. The magnitudes of the punishments demonstrate the level of distaste that a people have for violence and the harm of innocent people. In fact, the use of execution comes out of the belief that some convicted transgressors are so dangerous to individuals and to society that those convicted criminals can never be allowed the possibility of return to the society. This ultimate act of violence is, also, the ultimate act of removal and warning to those who would use indiscriminate violence against fellow citizens.

The existence of justice brings into being the opportunity of mercy. Mercy calls for a punishment that is not equal to the transgression, a punishment that is healing, a punishment that can be redemptive. Mercy begins with the belief that the transgressor is also a fallible human, a person who may have done violence but who may learn/decide to never do violence again. Mercy moderates the harsh rationality of justice with the appeal to caring and concern, but it is dangerous, and can only with great effort and sacrifice be practiced by an entire society. A uniform application within its system of justice by a society almost insures that dangerous transgressors of law will be returned to society to continue to prey on their fellow citizens. In many ways, mercy is the highest trait of humanity, but it is best practiced by individuals, judges and those who would help convicted persons in their own redemption and return to the society whose members they have harmed.

In America today, there are many who feel that justice is applied in an inequitable way, that some transgressors are punished more harshly than others. That may or may not be true. Also, there are differences of opinion within the American about which crimes are more dangerous and violent, and which therefore require more harsh punishment. We, as a people, must strive to make the application of justice and just punishments more even. Never before has a society attempted to make justice uniform for everyone within it. The American people are engaged in a very difficult and new attempt, and, while this people have not yet fully succeeded, the discussion, experimentation and refining of the justice system continues.

Individuals, within the American society, also continue to answer the call to mercy. While those who feel that justice requires more mercy from society than is presently written into law, this author would counsel only a deliberate course of change within the system of American justice. The American justice system is very complex and to make radical changes, rather that carefully considered adjustments, endangers this noble experiment in equally applied law. Merciful efforts, both individual and by organized groups, are a much-needed adjunct to American justice. These non-governmental merciful and redemptive processes actually add a much needed amelioration to the harshness of punishment that justice alone requires.