Mercy Vs Justice

It is widely known that mercy and justice are polar opposites, however this can be put into question. Throughout human history many scholars have been giving insight on this ongoing debate, Thomas Aquinas once said that “Mercy without justice is the mother of dissolution; justice without mercy is cruelty”. This quote can easily be applied to modern day, as court systems can easily be one-sided and biased. Through the analysis of multiple court cases such as Gideon Vs. Wainwright, Ricky Jackson and Jimmy Dill it is evident that the balance between mercy and justice in modern day court systems are essential to the fairness and well-being of the people. Both justice and mercy are complementary as they are both rendered useless without one another. In the court …show more content…
Although he was involved in a shooting and ended up seriously injuring a person, he was first charged with aggravated assault. While in prison, the victim died due to the improper health care according to evidence provided by forensics. Yet the court ruled that Jimmy Dill is to be punished by death penalty changing his sentence from prison time to death. However it is to be noted that “Mr. Dill should have been shielded from the death penalty because of his intellectual disability”-(pg 284). This punishment was unjust and cruel as Jimmy was suffering from mental illness and also was not proven to be the actual cause of the death of the victim. Also capital murder “requires the intent to kill, and there was a persuasive argument that there was no intent to kill in this case and that poor health care caused the victim’s death”-(pg 284). This is a core example of what may happen when mercy and justice aren’t properly balanced in the ruling phase in court. Jimmy’s case was reviewed by many critics and many have said that Jimmy was tried unfairly and was clearly under the protection of previous