X-Message-Number: 17006
Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2001 10:11:41 -0400
From: Jeffrey Soreff <>
Subject: Re: justice and mercy [Ettinger]

>"Justice" is basically a matter of politics or expediency or practical 
>necessity. It works--more or less. But the shift toward mercy will almost 
>inevitably increase with time. 

Predicting that shift amounts to predicting the direction of
future political shifts.  In the US, over the last couple of
decades, the death penalty has been reinstituted and the number
of executions ramped up, "zero-tolerance" policies towards a
whole range of infractions have been implemented by many of our
institutions, and a considerable fraction of what used to be
considered the social safety net has been dismantled.  I,
personally, prefer mercy, but I would not predict that it will
reliably increase.
                                Best wishes,
                                -Jeff

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