The road to justice has many twist and turns, many cleverly disguised paths that lead to dead ends, and continues to narrow the further one travels along the right path. The word justice has many different and conflicting connotations of revenge and being fair. The Webster’s New World College Dictionary defines justice as: The quality of being righteous; rectitude, impartiality; fairness, the quality of being right or correct, sound reason; rightfulness; validity, reward or penalty as deserved; just deserts, and the use of authority and power to uphold what is right, just, or lawful. (“Justice”)
The definition alone has many different meanings that depend on the perspective from which it is viewed. In other words, justice …show more content…
Understandably, those facing justice are sure to carry a different perspective of its meaning than those who are seeking it. Damien Echol’s, the innocent teenager sentenced to death, understands firsthand the oppressive nature justice can have on society. He spent almost twenty years on death row in solitary confinement for a crime he did not commit (Paradise Lost 3). Furthermore, Damien’s situation is not an isolated incident, especially when organizations like The Innocence Project were formed with the goal to free innocent people. With the concern for innocent people on death row, a very valid question could be asked. Is it really justice if the state is guilty of murdering the innocent? Sounds more like the definition for injustice, according to Webster’s New World College Dictionary, which is “the quality of being unjust or unfair; lack of justice, an unjust act; injury” …show more content…
Although justice is relative to the point of view from which is it observed, it is difficult to separate one’s self from the emotions that turn justice into injustice. Those seeking justice are subject to the bias of prejudices, making their views easy to confuse with vengeance. While, those who are within the grips of justice can identify the many injustices built into the system, turning their view of justice into what they may consider oppression. Finally, the perspective that has the most impact is the applied connotation of justice by those who are deemed capable of determining what is just. All in all, justice is not something that the human race is born doing but it is what we must continue to fight for. Justice can be misunderstood, blind, and a revolving door. Nevertheless, true justice will always be defined by Webster’s New World College Dictionary as “the quality of being right or correct,” but in practice it will always be an internal struggle for humanity to understand what it