Think for a moment: What images come to your mind when you hear the word "Justice"? Do see judges slamming their gavels down? Men going to jail to "pay for their crimes"? Do you think of free men being exonerated and set free? Each of these is justice, in its own way. There is another side to justice, a far less popular side. It is justice, sometimes, when the guilty walk free.
The Obama Administration has said that they will attempt to bring many of the people at Guantanamo Bay detention center to trials. This should be heralded as a victory for justice. A victory for the rule of law and the belief that it is patently unjust to dole out punishment without due process, they might be lowly criminals, but WE HAVE STANDARDS!
Also just, some will be set free. Freeing a man who you can't find grounds to give his day in court is always just and right.
The last group should give us pause. This is the group of people who cannot be brought to trial, but are determined "dangerous" and cannot be let free. This is a travesty of justice, which shows low moral character of our leadership, and a lack of faith in the very system which they are charged with leading.
What stops illegal searches? What stops police from entering your home and snooping? What protects you from torture when you are a suspect?
We have a concept in our legal system "Fruit from the Poisoned Tree". It is a check and balance against police power. Any evidence obtained through coercion, through torture, through illegal discovery, is not admissible in court. So if a police officer is tempted to beat you, tempted to threaten you or your family, he does so with full knowledge that HE is ruining the case against you, and HE is going to be the reason that you walk free.
This is a powerful check and balance, and one that is not just good: It is FUNDAMENTAL to justice. Without this concept, there may as well be no courts, and no laws.
In the end, it doesn't matter what our enemies do. It matters little if they live or die. They cannot hope to actually hurt us, except to make us compromise our ideals. When we torture them, they win. When we hold them without trial, they win. When we make exceptions to our laws because of them, they win. They win because of what WE do.
If we don't have enough faith in our own system to send them to trial, if we don't have enough faith in the system to reject torture, and reject ANY standard less than "beyond a reasonable doubt", then, they win.
Our country has itself in a precarious position, but one where the path is obvious. If we look at the tradition of our laws, if we look at WHY our legal system is setup the way that it is, then there is little doubt that justice, in this case, leaves us unsatisfied, and feeling a bit cheated and empty. That is because justice doesn't do one night stands. We are in a committed relationship with Lady Justice, and we cheated on her; and now she asks us to do right by her.
It is sad but, we did this to ourselves. THEY didn't make us water board them. They didn't make us hold people without trials. We did that all on our own. We deserve to send a message to ourselves: These actions will NOT be tolerated, even if it means releasing a little bit of scum back into the world. It is our fault. Its time for us to eat our crow, and vow that next time, we will do it without debasing ourselves.
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