True Justice—When and How?

THE innocent should have nothing to fear from true justice. Indeed, citizens almost everywhere have reason to be grateful if their country has a legal system that tries to ensure justice. Such a system involves a framework of laws, a police force to enforce them, and courts to administer justice. True Christians respect the judicial system in which they live, in keeping with the Biblical admonition to “be in subjection to the superior authorities.”—Romans 13:1-7.

However, judicial systems in various countries have made harmful and embarrassing errors.a Instead of punishing the guilty and protecting the innocent, at times innocent people have been punished for crimes they did not commit. Other individuals have spent years in prison, only to be released before completion of their sentence amid serious doubt as to whether they were guilty and their conviction was warranted. Hence, many are asking, Will there ever be true justice for everyone? If so, when and how? Whom can we trust to protect the innocent? And what hope is there for victims of injustice?

Justice Gone Wrong

In the 1980’s, Germany witnessed “one of the most sensational processes of the postwar period,” during which a mother was sent to prison for life for murdering her two daughters. Years later, however, the evidence against her was reevaluated, and she was released pending a new trial. Die Zeit reported in 1995 that the original judgment “could prove to be a judicial error.” Up to the time of writing, this woman had spent nine years in prison surrounded by uncertainty as to her guilt or innocence.

One November evening in 1974, the city center of Birmingham, England, was rocked by the explosion of two bombs that killed 21 persons. It was an event that “no one in Birmingham will ever forget,” wrote Chris Mullen, a member of Parliament. Later, “six innocent men were convicted of the biggest murder in British history.” Later their convictions were quashed—but only after the men had spent 16 years behind bars!

Legal counsel Ken Crispin reported on a case that “captured the public imagination in a manner unique in the annals of Australian legal history.” A family was camping near Ayers Rock when their baby disappeared, never to be found again. The mother was charged with murder, convicted, and sentenced to life imprisonment. In 1987, after she had been incarcerated for over three years, an official inquiry found that the evidence against her could not justify a conviction. She was released and pardoned.

An 18-year-old woman living in the southern United States was murdered in 1986. A middle-aged man was charged, convicted, and sentenced to death. He spent six years on death row before it was established that he had nothing to do with the crime.

Are these rare examples of judicial mistakes? David Rudovsky of the University of Pennsylvania Law School notes: “I’ve been in the system for about 25 years and seen a lot of cases. I would say those convicted who are in fact innocent . . . I’d guess between five and 10%.” Crispin asks the disturbing question: “Are there other innocent people sitting dejectedly in prison cells?” How are such tragic mistakes possible?

Comfort from the Holy Scriptures

In November 1952, Derek Bentley and Christopher Craig broke into a warehouse in Croydon, near London, England. Bentley was 19 years of age and Craig was 16. The police were called, and Craig shot and killed one of the policemen. Craig served nine years in prison, whereas Bentley was hanged for murder in January 1953.

Bentley’s sister, Iris, campaigned for 40 years to clear his name of a murder he did not commit. In 1993, the Crown issued a pardon in respect of the sentence, admitting that Derek Bentley should never have been hanged. Iris Bentley wrote about the case in the book Let Him Have Justice:

“About a year before the shooting he met a Jehovah’s Witness in the street . . . Sister Lane lived not far from us at Fairview Road and she invited Derek round to listen to Bible stories. . . . What was good was that Sister Lane had the Bible stories on records, which she lent him [since Derek was a poor reader]. . . . He used to come back and tell me what she’d told him, things like we’ll all come back again after we’re dead.”

Iris Bentley visited her brother on death row prior to his execution. How did he feel? “Those things that Sister Lane told him helped him over those last few days.”—Italics ours.