Not fit for purpose.
In our society justice infers a system of punishment, lock’em up and throw away the keys. The Justice System itself has wider scope though it would seem more to define a degree of punishment that an offender must pay for in units of time from their life. Which of course is better than cutting off the child’s hand for stealing an apple because they were starving.
Consult the official website – www.cjsonline.gov.uk – and you will read the following under the ‘aims and objectives’ section:
“The purpose of the Criminal Justice System… is to deliver justice for all, by convicting and punishing the guilty and helping them to stop offending, while protecting the innocent.”
Crime continues to be prevalent across the planet, yet it could be cut dramatically in a number of simple ways.
Justice
Justice is served to those who have transgressed legal and ethical boundaries. Legal boundaries are what is legislated as right or wrong.
The only reason to legislate, as I have said before is if one is lost.
This means that the boundaries of what is right or wrong are different between people or the perspectives held by society and individuals have differed.
Remember right and wrong, good and bad are always dependent on the perspective taken.
The answer is for all to take the same perspectives and this is what legislation tries to resolve.
Unfortunately at this stage you are dealing retrospectively for crime, whether you think it is a deterrent or not. It would be better to deal with the concept of justice proactively and that means doing away with Justice, in this context.
Throw out the rubbish
The Cambridge dictionary defines Justice as, fairness in the way people are dealt with. This can be made practical in a proactive way by applying the principles of Self-Actualisation that I have written about in my book “The Tao of Self-Actualisation” and this blog. All interactions are filtered at the inception of a Thought that would intend an Action. You simply run a little logic to decide what thoughts are useful and effective in furthering your Self-Actualisation and what Actions solidify this. To Self-Actualise is to create a life of abundant happiness, love and fulfilment the innate drive or sets of perspectives that unify all creatures with feelings. What enables this are the Tools of Creation, Thoughts – Words (communications) – Actions.
Fairness may be defined as, “the quality of treating people equally”. In the context of utilising the Tools of Creation, when examining a Thought, one aims to bring joy or happiness ideally in equal measure to all that the Thought concerns. It is, in effect, a business contract or mutual exchange that should be balanced, so synergistic. The same goes for the Actions that the Thought evokes, they would be measured as a fair exchange of love.
This provides a code of conduct that maybe offered to all and in everyones social interactions and adherence to this and demonstration of this would serve to make a “Justice System” obsolete in the context of how it is setup currently in human societies. This is true unification, in that all have a way to have relationships and interactions from a unified set of perspectives. My right is your right and it is all focused on bringing abundant happiness to all and love in a systematic way.
Unfortunately, every country tends to stipulate right and wrong in a way that is not easily adaptable to all situations and in certain areas those with power can influence legislation towards their own vested interests over and above the rest.
Self interest over the top of others must be circumvented and can be done through the true empowerment of the individual. This is to make each person their own highest authority in a way that a code of conduct that all can be adopted by all so that decisions and actions can be understood widely from a unified set of perspectives. This is just common sense.
Convicting and punishing the guilty (oh yes) and reforming
You are judged by an Arbiter of Justice and found lacking.
A good form of governance would be one that enabled, particularly enabling Self-Actualisation.
To Self-Actualise you use the Tools of Creation as a means of discernment, which enable you to be your highest authority as opposed to always looking for some 3rd party. This would help individuals take a more balanced approach to life and enable personal responsibility that is more openly accounted for in a fair way. Looking to convict and punish is very limiting in encouraging social exchanges that are mutually beneficial. Yet Crime and Punishment are greatly focused on to the extent that the common man believes that punishment is the correct response for any crime. This is proven to not be effective as the fact that there is crime reflects.
Crime always evolves from a place of lack, unless it is incidental because of unwieldy or simply unfair legislation.
Then there is reforming.
Billions of pounds, dollars Euros, Yen and every other major currency are spent on prison systems to house those deemed as criminals, yet their capability of out putting people that either don’t re-offend or are people that can integrate properly in society is virtualy zero in terms of enabling systematic Self-Actualising. Remember that to Self-Actualise is to have a consistently happier life with more love and fulfilment. In many prisons people leave with a better education in crime, more mental scarring and often likely to re-offend. How these services maintain public funding when the system demonstrates that it does not resolve the societal issue of wrong doings is strange, unless of course it is not. The tools to deal with trauma and other psychological issues are available and effective and tested, though not adopted properly in the mainstream. Sadly these institutions reflect the thinking applied based on the output they consistently supply.
Back to the earlier object supplied as the raison etre for the Criminal Justice System:
“The purpose of the Criminal Justice System… is to deliver justice for all, by convicting and punishing the guilty and helping them to stop offending, while protecting the innocent.”
This is a poor objective and might be better substituted with:
“Enabling all to systematically self-actualise in a society”
Through this objective the Tools of Creation are utilised to navigate all the social interactions and if there is to be a governing body for Justice it would be there to enable honesty and clarity to the situation as it would be self evident what is right or wrong. What it could offer in addition is Resourcefulness or additional resources to finding better solutions through better questions being asked.
Protecting the Innocent
The best long-term means to “protect the innocent” can only be to enable a society where there is no crime. The innocent need to be protected from unfair and unwieldy legislation and a proper code of conduct that is ingrained into society at all levels, with a simple thinking process that allows one to review the criteria of every thought and action in a way that brings joy and love to all. This would be the application of the Tools of Creation towards bringing joy and love.
Fundamentally, we are all creatures of consciousness, this is the only thing any human can really know. Your self-awareness of “I am”. Reality as you perceive it is an invention of the mind, as a perception in of itself is simply a set of beliefs that filter thoughts you call your understandings. It is programming.
The Tools of Creation are the fundamental tools by which reality is created, this can only be your reality. If you desire to exist with what you feel are others or perceive you are existing with others, direct your existence, like a director steers a film.
The fundamental code of conduct for beings that share existence, is one that steers Thoughts and Actions, the building blocks of reality. Steer it to what you innately desire or all innately desire systematically. We all use this already but just not in a focused and clear way.
Making Amends
So, what do you do when it all goes wrong?
Through honesty and transparency of what has transpired can you begin to unravel wrong doing. Wrong in this context is what does not serve all that are concerned in bringing a mutual exchange of happiness and love.
A simple approach would be to redress balance, this may best be done through understanding events and ensuring they are not repeated. And were possible balance is brought back. Loss of a loved one is a permanent imbalance, loss of an object is redressable.
For situations where a permanent imbalance occurs, the effected parties would be encouraged to agree a way forwards that best enable their Self-Actualisation. This is as opposed to simply providing arbitrary punishments in the mistaken belief that they serve to bring redress or even happiness to any party.
When you can’t commit to the code of conduct
There are 3 options an individual has in society.
They can join society to systematically Self-Actualise. This is to create and realise ones highest desires and intentions continuously at the emotional levels of peace, love and joy. Doing this in peace and harmony within oneself and with all others and the environment we currently exist in.
Secondly, if you can’t get along with society, that individual can simply choose to go elsewhere and parties that differ may simply exist separately without further interference, to continue on their own paths towards self-actualisation.
The third option when all else fails is the systematic annihilation of the other party. As this is logically the only route as interference after this point will reduce one’s quality of existence with prolonged interaction, as Sun Tzu intelligently pointed out. The death sentence if you like.
The third option can only be sort when all else fails and it is ensured that all parties are fully aware of what each other intends and how they wish to conduct themselves. To simply lead separate paths is likely to be the preferred option should that arise.
In coming to the third option in a balanced way that is less likely to be coopted by the trigger happy. Placing out the situation to all parties in its fullest transparency must occur. Each party will need an understanding of the Self-Actualising principles in a working way to navigate the situation and also to decide what ultimately would benefit them most in a Self-Actualising way.
Once all parties have a solid means to design their future fully can the arbitration process begin and true justice or fairness found through a mutual exchange that benefits all.
Practicallity, as a principle must be utilised and if attacks are incessant that prevent the arbitration process the most appropriate means to re-claim the situation through Sun Tzu’s principles of warfare would be prudent.
Remember the ultimate goal in any war is to win without fighting, that is supreme excellence. Protracted campaigns must be avoided at all costs, as they help no one.
In Conclusion
A complete restructuring of society effectively, needs to occur, the current Legal Justice System is purely a retrospective approach to dealing with social cohesion in a not very sophisticated way. Declarations of Law that our society lives by reflects a society that has not yet been able to create a culture (sets of guiding beliefs) that allow all to approach life from a similar perspective or with the tools to properly do this ingrained into every citizen.
Adopting the Tools of Creation towards bringing all joy and love in the Self-Actualising process, which I outline in my blog articles and book, offer an alternative practical option to approach Justice or fairness in society.
It is simply to find a common perspective that all would be happy to agree with and live life together with.