Justice can be a strange thing and doesn't always seem morally or ethically logical at times. Kennas, I agree that justice doesn't seem the right word when it comes to the sentencing. It seems they have different rules for different people. I have also become dismayed at our own family laws in this country where the word justice seems hard to justify.
Take the situation of a separated family. It seems there is a female gender bias in our legal system that enables a mother to withhold children from seeing their father. That way she picks up way more in child support payments.
Usually, if you pay for something, you get something in return. It seems not so in Australia. A mother can simply take the kids, set any visitation times for the father that she chooses while collecting higher child support payments than if they had shared care. The mother seems to have no obligation to show where the child support payments have gone to make the kids life better - she can do whatever she likes with it. Gamble, drink, smoke - whatever takes her fancy. If the father has sufficient finance (eg $40,000 - $100,000) lying around, it seems he has no rights until he gets a good family lawyer (usually around $400+ per hour) and even then there are no guarantees.
If a father doesn't have sufficient finance and is not elligible for legal aid, there is nothing he can do. His hands are tied and his kids have no say either. Often his income precludes him from legal aid, however, by the time he pays his own rental, living costs and child support (which is not tax deductible), there is often very little left.
I read recently on a forum of a dad who has two boys aged ten and twelve. The story goes something like this: they predominately live with the mother by court order, however, the boys have grown more and are apparently now so unhappy being predominately in their mother's care, they have resorted to running away. This particular father received a phone call from the boys early one morning and found out they were in a stranger's house who had let the boys use their phone to call their Dad. They had knocked on a couple of doors until someone let them use a phone. The boys begged their dad not to take them back to their mother as they are so unhappy there. However, due to the court order, he had no choice. He apparently sought legal advice and was told he would need to pay considerable $ so that boys could have their voice heard in court. Money he doesn't have so these boys will enter their teen years desperately unhappy and yet it seems nothing can be done to help them.
I find this unbelievable in our country. I was so disturbed by this story of these boys who are potentially putting themselves in danger that I called one of the kids charities. I was told there was nothing they could do to help as they would not have the funds either to have the children's voices heard in court. IMO, true justice would give these kids a voice. Australia has thrown so much money away in asylum seeker legal fees, it seems unbelievable that this sort of very unfair situation is allowed to happen and that kids are at the mercy of a system that is supposed to have the "best interests of the children" as it's base, however, if there's no money it seems the children's best interest are no longer relevant.
So, the more I learn about our family legal system in this country, the more appalled I become. Surely the presumption of 50/50 shared care post separation which can be rebutted if abuse can be substantiated or an agreement by both parents would be a much fairer system for kids who generally want both parents significantly in their lives, even post separation.
Justice - I wonder what it really means...