Dear Editor,

Anyone who truly has a full appreciation of how justice deprived Jamaicans are is no doubt rending his/her garment.

Unfortunately, too many of us are either benefiting from such injustice or actively waiting for our turn. Constitutional reform is needed and is supposedly under way, but this current crop of leaders sorely lack the attributes to effect the three pillars of justice that we need.

In maintaining social and legal standards within our society, there will be those who fall short. This requires forgiveness. We know that judges do consider remorse and prior criminal records in handing down sentences. A Montego Bay newspaper columnist, who has credentials in philosophy, once noted to his readers that there’s a South African tribe which deals with its miscreants by gathering as many people who are acquainted with the accused and they would tauntingly and exhaustively testify to the good attributes of the accused, leaving the latter feeling truly ashamed but somewhat rehabilitated.

At its surface justice is about affording dignity to all. This might seem quite heterogenous, considering the diverse nature of the things in which we find enjoyment as individuals, but it’s not. It merely requires compassion, and there is no nuance or graduation to compassion; it just is.

Andre O Sheppy

astrangely@outlook.com