Distributive and Retributive Justice Systems

Distributive and Retributive Systems
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Distributive and Retributive Systems
Justice is a more complex thing to describe and attain. The rationale for the complexity is the varied personal perspectives on the subject matter. In a general outlook, justice can be defined as any action by the provisions of some law. The laws can be grounded on societal norms or human consensus (Maiese, 2003). Regardless of the fundamental grounds of the set laws, they have to ensure that each member of society is subjected to fair treatment. Justice translates to giving every person what they deserve or rather their due (Santa University, 2014). Michael Walzer, a professor at the Institute for Advanced Study, equates justice to Equality (Big Think, 2017). Justice can be broken down into social, political, and legal. He says that legal justice is Equality before the law without consideration of wealth, family collection, and there is no special treatment for any person. Political justice for his case encompasses all features of citizenship that encourage democracy. Social justice, on the other hand, is the Equality of opportunities. This text sheds light on the distributive and retributive justice systems. The two justice systems have common and contrasting grounds, which wholesomely lead to attaining the core concept of justice. While the retributive justice system appeals to the notion that people need to be treated the same way they treat others, the distributive justice system is about fairness in the distribution of economic resources.
Distributive Justice System
The distributive justice system is also considered economic justice (Maiese, 2003). Economic resources are always scarce. It is the mandate of this justice system to ensure that every member of the community gets a fair share of the limited resources. Every individual tends to agree that there should be a fair distribution of wealth. However, the measure of the fair share is disagreed chiefly with by many people. In that case, several distribution criteria involve the sharing of resources. The first criteria are based on equity, the second based on Equality, and the third is based on need. Equity allows for sharing resources according to the person’s contribution to society.
On the other hand, Equality calls for an equal share of resources across all the members of society. This means that every societal member gets the same share of resources regardless of their contribution in attaining the resources. Distribution based on need calls for a higher share of resources to those in higher need of the resources and vice versa. This means that people who need more get more, and those who need less get less. The selection of the criteria to be used for distributing the societal resources depends on the perspective the society has about fairness.
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