Justitia's Lady Justice On The Old Bailey

In my creative response I have created an illustration of Lady Justice atop the Old Bailey, accompanied by a quotation from the film. This response seeks to explore the themes of deception, truth, innocence, and nationalism that appear throughout the course of the film. Lady Justice is an historic character based on the Roman goddess Justitia, the incarnation of justice in Roman society (Köhler, W 1961). The scales represent the fairness of any given trial, showing that evidence is weighed evenly before judgement is passed; hence in most depictions the scales are held aloft above the sword. In the case of the Old Bailey’s statue, however, the sword is held aloft above the scales of justice. The decision to use this specific depiction in my response signifies that for the Guildford Four, their punishment and imprisonment were decided upon before their guilt had been determined. The scales are depicted as being heavily weighted to one side, further demonstrating this idea and the disparity between true justice and this miscarriage of justice. …show more content…
G 1992, 50). The inclusion of a blindfold in my creative piece signifies that, for this trial, Justitia truly was blind – ignorant of the truth as opposed to being impartial. The blindfold is depicted with the Union Flag, the symbol of a united Great Britain, This image portrays the nationalistic sense of duty that blinded the justice system into committing such an atrocity as the legal convictions of the Guildford Four. The overall message is that Lady Justice is blind to the obvious lies and to the rigged weighting of the scales of