Fundamental Justice and The Rule of Law
The Rule of Law: The fundamental principle that society is governed by law that applies equally to all persons and that neither an individual nor the government is above the law. Individuals must accept and recognize that laws are necessary in order for there to be peace in our society.
Fundamental Justice: In order for fundamental justice to be achieved, there must be procedural justice, which is the concept that people's rights must be respected when administering laws and substantive justice, which refers to the morality of the law being upheld.
Is there Fundamental Justice for Wrongful Convictions? Is the Rule of Law being upheld for the Wrongfully Accused?
For the people who are wrongfully convicted of a crime they did not commit, it is clear that there are problems in both the rule of law and fundamental justice. In most general cases, if a person follows the rules of society and acts as a good citizen, they will not be punished, but for the wrongfully convicted, including Donald Marshall, Jr., they were innocently minding their own business when one day they were punished for something they did not do. The rule of law is put in place in our justice system in order to keep peace in society and make sure that nobody who commits a crime is left unpunished, but what is the point of the rule of law when those who don't even commit crimes are punished and the people who actually commit those crimes are left to live with the rest of society? The people who never pay the price for their crime have proved that the rule of law has failed and they have a found a way to get around it by putting innocent people in their place, like Roy Ebsary did to Donald Marshall, Jr. Fundamental Justice is not served in the cases of the wrongfully convicted because the justice system put away an innocent person. In the case of Donald Marshall ,Jr., he was a just an innocent teenager who witnessed the murder of his friend. Since he was not the person who ended the life of Sandy Seale, he did not think for one moment that he would blamed for it and put in jail. He placed his trust into the hands of the police, the investigators, the Crown attorneys and his own defense attorneys and had the expectations that they would do their jobs properly and quickly disconnect him from the crime. Unfortunately, this did not happen and he was sent to jail to spend most of his young life rotting away in a cell. The failure of all those involved who were responsible in administering the law for the wrongfully accused proved that procedural justice and substantive justice were not served. Without this two important sections, fundamental justice is not served.
For the people who are wrongfully convicted of a crime they did not commit, it is clear that there are problems in both the rule of law and fundamental justice. In most general cases, if a person follows the rules of society and acts as a good citizen, they will not be punished, but for the wrongfully convicted, including Donald Marshall, Jr., they were innocently minding their own business when one day they were punished for something they did not do. The rule of law is put in place in our justice system in order to keep peace in society and make sure that nobody who commits a crime is left unpunished, but what is the point of the rule of law when those who don't even commit crimes are punished and the people who actually commit those crimes are left to live with the rest of society? The people who never pay the price for their crime have proved that the rule of law has failed and they have a found a way to get around it by putting innocent people in their place, like Roy Ebsary did to Donald Marshall, Jr. Fundamental Justice is not served in the cases of the wrongfully convicted because the justice system put away an innocent person. In the case of Donald Marshall ,Jr., he was a just an innocent teenager who witnessed the murder of his friend. Since he was not the person who ended the life of Sandy Seale, he did not think for one moment that he would blamed for it and put in jail. He placed his trust into the hands of the police, the investigators, the Crown attorneys and his own defense attorneys and had the expectations that they would do their jobs properly and quickly disconnect him from the crime. Unfortunately, this did not happen and he was sent to jail to spend most of his young life rotting away in a cell. The failure of all those involved who were responsible in administering the law for the wrongfully accused proved that procedural justice and substantive justice were not served. Without this two important sections, fundamental justice is not served.