The Types of justice Most common in the world today are distributive, procedural, retributive and restorative justice.
Each of these types seeks to regulate the way people interact with one another within societies. Thus, if a person does not act prudently he will be tried with the help of one of the forms of justice.
Justice is defined as corrective action that is executed according to the requirements of the law. It is possible that some of the laws that guard justice are rooted in the norms and social consensus of a group.
However, regardless of the origin of the laws, justice ensures compliance with them and the fair treatment of all individuals.
The issues addressed by justice are of different kinds, so there are different types of to deal with them. Each has important implications in the way a nation's judiciary operates.
In this way, justice affects the relations of all the states of the world in political, socioeconomic, civil and criminal terms (Fraedrich, Ferrell, & Ferrell, 2009).
Main types of justice
There are four types of justice that people can appeal to if they feel that their physical, moral or emotional integrity has been violated (Minds, 2016). These are listed below:
1 - Distributive justice
Distributive justice is also known as economic justice. It is concerned with giving all members of society what is just.
That is, it ensures that each individual has access to the resources he or she needs to lead a dignified life. In this sense, distributive justice is understood as that which is responsible for equitably distributing wealth.
However, while many people agree that wealth must be equitably distributed, there are many disagreements on this issue.
This happens because it is difficult to determine how much should be given to each individual to be fair (Ghai, 2016).
Some criteria that seek to clarify this issue are those of equity, equality and necessity. Where equity means that the reward given to an individual is equivalent to the work that he invested to obtain it; Equality means that all people must get the same amount of something regardless of their contribution; And need means that the people who need the most need to receive more, and those who need less must receive less.
The fair distribution of resources, or distributive justice, is essential to preserve the stability of societies and the well-being of their members. When this is not executed correctly, multiple conflicts can be unleashed (Maiese, 2003).
2 - Procedural justice
Procedural justice is one that is concerned with take decisions And implement what is derived from them fairly, ensuring that all individuals receive the treatment they deserve.
According to this type of justice, the rules must be followed by all individuals impartially and consistently, in order to be able to process them without any bias in case they comment some rudeness.
Those responsible for procedural justice should be impartial. On the other hand, people prosecuted for this type of justice must have some type of representation to be able to intercede in the decision-making process.
An example of this is public participation in local government instances when a decision is made that can affect citizens.
If people feel that the decision-making process is being taken fairly, they will be more likely to accept what is decided, even if they do not agree with it.
However, the implementation of fair processes is a well-discussed issue, since any decision must always include negotiation, mediation, arbitration and adjudication of what is decided, and this is not always an easy task (Ololube, 2016).
3 - Retributive justice
Retributive justice appeals to the notion that people deserve to be treated in the same way they treat others. It is a retroactive approach that justifies punishment as a response to malicious prior attitudes.
The central idea of retributive justice is that the aggressor tends to gain an unfair advantage through his behavior, and therefore should be punished to balance the situation.
In other words, those who do not follow the rules must be brought before justice and must suffer the consequences of their acts.
The notion of deterring people from committing certain crimes is also an important idea for retributive justice.
Thus, it is believed that in setting forth the kind of punishment that may be received for violating the law, is sufficient to dissuade the person from committing such offense.
In addition, retributive justice is not only responsible for ensuring compliance with local, state or national laws.
It also plays a fundamental role in the enforcement of international laws. This is how it must respond for the fulfillment of human rights and punish war crimes, among others.
4 - Restorative justice
While retributive justice focuses on punishing the transgressor of the norm, restorative justice focuses on ensuring the welfare of the victim.
In this sense, many people are more supportive of restorative justice over retribution, as it focuses on restoring well-being and tranquility to a punctual individual rather than to a nation.
Restorative justice is concerned with healing the"wounds"of the victims, as well as for making lawbreakers have to adhere to compliance. Essentially seeks to repair the damage done to interpersonal relationships and community.
In this type of justice, the victims play a fundamental role in the direction of justice, indicating what should be the responsibilities and obligations of those who transgressed the law.
On the other hand, transgressors are encouraged to understand the harm they have done to their victims and the reasons why they should be held responsible for such harm.
Restorative justice seeks to balance relationships within a community and prevent certain harmful situations from happening in the future.
At the national level, these kinds of processes are handled through mediation programs between victims and offenders.
On the other hand, at the international level restorative justice is usually a matter of institutionalizing truth through reconciliation commissions.
References
- Fraedrich, J., Ferrell, L., & Ferrell, O. (2009). Justice. In J. F. Ferrell, Business Ethics 2009 Update: Ethical Decision Making and Cases (Page 159). Mason: South Western.
- Ghai, K. (2016). Types of Justice . Obtained from 2. Economic Justice: yourarticlelibrary.com
- Maiese, M. (July 2003). Beyond Intractability . Obtained from Types of Justice: beyondintractability.org
- Minds, C. (2016). Changing Minds . Obtained from Four Types of Justice: changingminds.org
- Ololube, N.P. (2016). Procedural Justice. In N. P. Ololube, Handbook of Research on Organizational Justice and Culture in Higher Education Institutions (Pages 7-8). Hershey: Information Science.