Governed peoples, in the post-Enlightenment era, adhere to the fiction of having a social contract with the state. Part of that agreement allows the state to retain a monopoly on violence. The governed cede their right to retaliate against parties that have injured them provided that the state intercede on their behalf to deliver justice and retribution. The exercise of vigilante justice by individuals or groups is prohibited.
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I say it is a fiction because there never was a party called the governed that sat down with rulers to cede their rights in exchange for protection and justice. It was an idea promulgated by rulers alone who understood that violence amongst subjects ran contrary to their ability to maintain order. This formula often proved successful because it was in the best interest of both parties to foster justice and thereby maintain peace, order and prosperity in the realm.
However, what happens when the state does not adhere to its part of the covenant to administer retribution for crimes, especially capital ones? The obvious effect is that it undermines confidence in the social contract and in the minds of many it negates it.
Over the last sixty years, we have witnessed the state increasingly abrogate its responsibility to administer just punishment. The recent concern by many, myself included, that Karmelo Anthony will escape punishment for murdering Austin Metcalf, highlights our growing lack of confidence that the state will follow through on its part of the grand social bargain.
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In a just and sane society, the verdict would be swift, and Anthony would be soon dangling from the end of a rope. Instead, we must wonder whether a lettuce head was seated on the jury and will impede a just outcome. As I wrote in an earlier article, black jurists present an obstacle to a just verdict because they, in general, hold a racial bias against whites. However, as readers noted, the attitudes of many white women pose another dilemma. They suffer from a misfiring of their empathetic circuits. For example, if a pit bull were to maul their child, they might have sympathy for the pit bull and spare its life. Marry that with a tendency to adopt the latest social fashion and you have a toxic combination which should keep them off juries.
Our society and the justice system seem to have gone off the rails making a sham of the social contract. Nothing good will come of it, unless one looks forward to a return of vigilante-style justice.
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