Justice

Back in December a man was murdered and his relatives wanted to enact 'traditional retribution', but were prevented from doing so and rioted. The magistrate, David Bamber, told them, "There is no place for violent retribution. The days of payback with violence should end . . . . [They] should be concerned with changing their law. They should be working out ways to deal with disputes without violence rather than feeling aggrieved with whitefella law preventing them from carrying out their old punishments". But I wonder if whitefella punishment is more arbitary and abstracted than Bamber thinks, and if spearing the leg of a person who has commited violence could sometimes be the fairer punishment. Yet I do agree with him that "violence begets violence".

Five months later, the unrest continues. I want to tell the family of the murdered man that they don't need to take justice into their own hands; that there once was a Man who bore the perfect payback they are keening for.