Sometimes it may feel that the justice system protects the perpetrator a lot more than it does the victim:

There are many things an accused can use to mitigate their position, there are many reasons to shorted a sentence, they can get out on good behavior, they can generally serve a lot less than what they deserve even by the letter of the law. Oftentimes, they may not even be successfully indicted because a ton of legal problems or loopholes can be utilized for the perpetrator to evade justice.

And that's without even factoring in the aspects of money being able to buy a seat above the law, or lawyers or prosecutors not caring enough to do their work well to deliver a correct verdict where the correct person is convicted properly and proportionally of the crime they commited.

And that leaves the victims exposed, unvindicated, and doubly traumatised. There's nothing worse than to see the person who wronged you walk away with their abuse and move on to live their lives. Survivors of SA are an especially heartbreaking and painful example of how a victim is treated a lot more harshly than their perpetrator.

Even in mental health research, it's a lot easier to find studies on the mental health of the convicted rather than that of the victims- unless it's victims of justice itself (wrongful conviction).

So, with that in mind, how about some definitions?

What is justice. And by contrast, what is revenge and when does it happen?

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, justice is “the maintenance or administration of what is just especially by the impartial adjustment of conflicting claims or the assignment of merited rewards or punishments.” With “what is just” referring to something that is objectively correct or conforming to fact or reason.

If we venture in the field of ethics, the definition slightly changes:

“Justice is a concept intended to promote fair and equitable treatment of individuals within populations,” according to two doctors, Drs. Feinsod and Wagner

Applied ethics adds to that with the aspect: “Individuals should be treated the same, unless they differ in ways that are relevant to the situation in which they are involved.”

Justice, therefore, is the principle of equality of treatment provided the context and parameters of any given situation are the same. Justice needs to be objective, grounded in reality, and unfettered from influences that are irrelevant to the evaluation of the issue at hand.

Justice is formal. We have an entire system in place, with a ton of pomp and circumstance rivaled only by that of churches, to be able to mete out justice on a daily basis.

And when it fails, or if people anticipate it will fail, revenge comes into play.

What is revenge?

According to the Cambridge dictionary, it is “harm done to someone as a punishment for harm that they have done to someone else.”

But why limit ourselves there? The sexy stuff happens when we ask philosophers about it! Let's begin by saying that they define it as “returning injury for injury.” For it to be legitimately revenge and not some kind of sadistic kink, revenge has to be as proportionate to the crime as we expect within the formal framework of justice. It's just informal.

You'd expect that in the field of ethics, revenge would be unanimously castigated, and you'd be wrong. There are of course those who consider revenge morally wrong for a variety of reasons (morally improper, serving only pettiness or an emotional need of the one taking it, being inherently destructive, etc.) but there are also those who consider it not only ethically sound but something victims are entitled to.


Vengeance is generally the option a victim has for vindication if the formal justice system fails them: if the perpetrator evades justice (be it by not being tried at all or by not receiving a sentence proportional to the crime, or anything in between), then the victim may want to extract revenge to equalize the level and severity of the injury inflicted with what punishment the perpetrator receives.

If the formal justice system works well, then generally vengeance isn't needed because the injury has been ‘matched’ or ‘returned’. Victims feel vindicated, protected, and seen by their own society. They don't need to take revenge. In short, it's society that takes revenge for the victim in a very formal manner when the justice system works.

Vengeance isn't just punitive. It's meant to have a deterrant effect for the future, exactly like formal sentencing does, and it's meant to teach the perpetrator (who isn't empathetic) how much pain is inflicted by the crime and thus, having experienced the same magnitude of hurt themselves, will have aversion from any repeats.

But if society fails to do that, then the need for vindication isn't met, and vengeance becomes relevant.


If vengeance is disproportionate to the injury inflicted, then it ceases to be vengeance/revenge and it becomes sadism. A character who inflicts an inordinate amount of pain on another individual with the excuse of a previous (much smaller in scale) injury suffered, is a hypocrite who is only seeking to enjoy other people's pain.


And with these things laid down, now you have a great range of behaviors for your characters and your world.

A world where revenge is often needed (whether it is extracted or not) is a world that is full of injustice, inequality, and hypocrisy.

A world where revenge isn't needed because the justice system works is a lot healthier and by default fair- equal and with equity for its populations, so that revenge is redundant.

A character who is vindictive could be

a) sadistic
b) very traumatized
c) informed by a history of the world and their peers letting them down and leaving them vulnerable to aggressors
d) all of the above

Vengeance could begin by being properly proportionate and then devolve into bullying and sadism when the victim becomes the abuser/perpetrator. A character arc of ‘descent into madness/evil/crossing the moral event horizon’ could begin from a place of righteousness.

Given all of the above, a world where you need vigilantes and superheroes to avenge victims or mete out justice in their name is a failed world, a failed state, or a failed city.

How have you handled justice and revenge in your webcomics or stories?

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