I have been thinking for some time about justice and how it applies to socioeconomic issues for some time now. I made my self a list of questions so that I could crystalize my thoughts. So far I have only answered the first one to my satisfaction.
1. What is justice? Justice is allowing people to experience the rewards or consequences (both legal and natural) of their actions regardless of their socioeconomic status. For example, if a person commits murder, they should have the legal punishment even if they are rich or famous. A natural example would be something like this: If you drink and drive, you are more likely to crash your car. This consequence happens as a natural result. An example of a just reward would be getting the prize if you fairly won the race.
Here are the rest of my questions:
2. Is this true of countries as well? What are the natural economic consequences and rewards of various political systems, religions, and corrupt practices when looking at countries and peoples as a whole?
4. What economic system(s), religion(s), etc. are prone to produce prosperous countries?
5. Mercy is negating just consequences because you empathize with the other person or find that there extenuating circumstances. For example, an abused woman might be given a reduced sentence for murdering her husband. How much mercy can be injected into a system without collapsing the system? We cannot allow all criminals to go free or to get a minimal punishment no matter how sorry we feel for them. We would be foolish to never punish our children no matter how sad it makes us. Is it true of all systems that justice must only be sprinkled with mercy?
6. How do these ideas apply to the poor especially in other countries?
