Justice

The discussion for this Freedom Friday is the establishment of justice because Justice is necessary in order to enjoy Freedom and Liberty. Like many of you, I read with horror about the recent rape and murder of Hena Begum, a 14-year-old girl in Bangladesh, who was reportedly raped by her 40-year-old married cousin named Mahbub. The next day Hena was accused of having an affair with a married man and sentenced by the officials of Shariatpur to 100 lashes under Sharia law. After being hit nearly 80 times, Hena passed out and was taken to a medical facility where she died. Besides having his daughter murdered, her father received a fine of $700 to pay out of his annual income of $520.

The High Court of Bangladesh has ordered the district officers to explain why the girl was not protected. Fatwa was declared illegal eight months earlier and declared to be a punishable offense - but it still took place. Villagers are seeking justice for the girl who suffered through rape and then was beaten to death, and fourteen people are being investigated for the horrible murder. Will those who issued the fatwa be brought to justice? Will those who executed the fatwa and murdered Hena be brought to justice? Will the rapist be brought to justice? Will true justice ever come to Hena?

There is much injustice in our world and even in our great nation, but it doesn't have to be and it wasn't meant to be. Our Founding Fathers desired to do away with injustice and made the establishment of justice an important part of the Constitution of the United States.

The phrase "to establish Justice" means to organize a legal system where all people in the nation will receive equal justice as declared by the law of the land. While each state and local government have their own judicial systems, the Constitution established a federal judicial system to handle disputes between the people who lived in different states. This system has served our nation well for over 200 years.

The people who lived in America in 1787 were very concerned about injustice and unfairness of laws because they had been victims of such under the mandates of Great Britain. The Founders knew about the injustices heaped upon citizens by Rome, Athens, Carthage, and other nations, and they wanted something better for their new country. They desired a system that would be just and fair to all people; they wanted to make the playing field as level as possible for all Americans.

What is justice? W. Cleon Skousen defined true justice as being a means "to restore the victim or offended party to his original position as far as humanly possible" (The Cleansing of America, p 75). The guilty person or persons would be responsible to restore health, wealth, property, reputation, etc. to the greatest extent possible. Because there is no way to restore life itself, many people support the death penalty for murderers.

The phrase "equal justice for all" means that every resident of the United States has the Right to be protected as to life, liberty, and property as well as to be presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. This means every person no matter the race, sex, ethnicity, etc. Every person has the right to be treated with fairness and justice.

Our Declaration of Independence declares: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men…."

The government of the United States of America was established to protect the rights of its citizens and to provide a way to restore value when rights were violated. It is only by following the rule of law that our government can provide equal justice for all.
To achieve true justice, judgment must be fair and administered equally and exactly to one and all.