Torah Portion

Effective Justice
Must Be Meted Out

precisely, painlessness?
Imagine a person undergoing an
operation to remove a limb. In anticipa-
tion of the pain, they are offered anes-
thesia and pain killers. In an absence of
health insurance, how much would they
be willing to pay, if the alternative were
to just suffer? $10? Surely! $100?
Probably. $1000? Maybe. $10,000? If
they could afford it.
ur Code of Justice, which
follows so closely the better
$100,000? Many would not. $1 mil-
lion? $10 million? I don't know.
known Ten Commandments,
addresses a number of issues
So here is a concrete, if somewhat
very much on our minds 33 centuries
uncomfortable, assessment of the true
later. @Regular
value of a person's pain and
Copy:Recidivism, fairness of
suffering, based on its value
compensation in pain and suf-
to them. The court is thereby
fering cases, and apparent
neither gouging the assailant
loopholes in the legal system
(or his insurance company, or
which free defendants popular-
their subscribers,) nor short-
ly believed to be guilty, are
changing the victim for his
;=-D problems which undermine
\
loss. Fair?
confidence in the "system."
It is widely known that the
What is the Torah's approach?
Torah requires eyewitnesses in
The ancient institution of
criminal cases, and the most
eyed ivri, the Hebrew slave,
convincing
circumstantial evi-
RAB BI DAVID
was a form of indentured
dence
will
not
result in a con-
SH APERO
servitude that dealt with both
viction. So what happens, and
Spec ial to The
the cause and effect of theft. If
where is justice, in the com-
Jew ish News
the convicted thief could not
mon cases where there are no
repay the theft, the court had
witnesses?
the option of selling him into a six-year
The punishment for premeditated
term of "slavery," during which time he
murder is execution, and for accidental
but negligent homicide, exile.
resided, together with his family, in the
household of his "master.
Rashi explains that even if two killers,
one premeditated and the other acciden-
The price of acquisition went straight
to the victim for full repayment, and the
tal, escape human justice due to lack of
witnesses, they can be placed in a situa-
years of apprenticeship in the master's
tion, such as both being lodged in the
trade, along with the model of a normal
ti
same inn, where the accidental killer
environment of human interaction and
accidentally kills the premeditated killer
responsibility, gave the thief a realistic
in the presence of the other lodgers.
and honorable opportunity of rehabilita-
tion.
Thus, he must now flee into exile, and
his hapless (but deserving) victim has
If this were of no avail, and after six
been publicly executed.
full years of preparation for re-entry the
The message is clear: We are bidden
slave recognized that his chances of sur-
to be agents of divine justice through
vival in the real world were uncertain
our courts only when we can be very
enough, he had the option of remaining
certain that we are right. Otherwise, the
until his death or the Jubilee. At that
result could be a miscarriage of justice.
time, all ancestral lands that had been
We are assured that the Creator and
sold away during the previous 50 years
Sustainer will complete the task. 7
returned to the original owners or their
heirs, .and the slaves were freed to begin
anew on their restored property.
In the matter of assault, the Torah
mandates compensation in up to five
What reforms in the prison sys-
categories. Apart from the major award
tem might be modeled on the
for the loss of a limb or its use, which
Torah's
approach? How does the
was essentially calculated as the differ-
practice
of law regarding person-
ence between one's value in the market-
al
injury
claims compare to the
place with or without the limb, there
To
rah
system?
was the matter of pain and suffering.
Is society better off with or with-
What fair estimate can be made of
out the use of circumstantial evi-
the value of someone's pain, or more
dence in criminal cases?
David Shapero is executive diretor of
Ohr Somayach Detroit.

Shabbat Mishpatim:
Exodus 21: 1-24: 18,
30:11-16• II
Kings 12:1-17.

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