By: Kate Moore
From a moral justice perspective, we are aware that the truth is what matters. Acknowledgment of the story, truth seeking and story telling are the tenets of a morally just legal system. The Accused, a film starring Jodie Foster clearly exemplifies this theme. In The Accused, Sara Tobias (Jodie Foster) is gang-raped and learns that her perpetrators enter into a plea bargain with the prosecutor. The men plead guilty to reckless endangerment instead of rape, and Sara is enraged. Justice, more specifically, moral justice has not been served. Sara had wanted to go into court and tell her story. She had wanted to look her perpetrators in the eye and run the risk of losing at trial, rather than having the defendants plead guilty to a lesser crime; something that they actually did not do. The legal system, however, does not provide a real opportunity for victims to participate. The victims are mere witnesses to the crime, while the state, presumably has all the power. Therefore, while the prosecutor’s decision was legally correct, it was morally deficient.
Although the emphasis on truth for the victim is difficult to find in our conventional paradigm, truth has emerged in other legal venues, most notably in South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), which was established to help deal with the effects of apartheid. The TRC was particularly moral, because it wanted apartheid victims and its perpetrators to tell their stories uninterrupted, not leaving any grim detail aside. Moreover, the commission hearings were televised, so that the public could be told about the atrocities that occurred. While the TRC’s do not impose punishment, which may be troublesome to our notion of morality, I think the acknowledgment of the victim in the TRC, is unparalleled. For many victims of horrific crimes, there is a need to tell someone, anyone and not be judged. There is a need for healing, justice, and the hope that this will not happen again. Perhaps, if more legal systems incorporated the fundamental aspects of the TRC, such as allowing the victim to speak freely and uninterrupted, a dose of morality could be found within the courtroom.
