Snippets about: Justice
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Justice In A Complex World
In a globalized and interconnected world, our sense of justice is often overwhelmed by the sheer complexity of causal connections and unintended consequences. Small choices we make, from the food we eat to the products we buy, can have far-reaching impacts on people and environments across the planet in ways we barely comprehend.
Our moral intuitions, which evolved for dealing with small groups of nearby individuals, are ill-equipped to handle such vast and intricate networks of cause and effect. We may feel a clear moral duty to help a drowning child right in front of us, but our feelings are much more ambiguous about the distant sweatshop workers or future generations affected by our everyday actions. Expanding our circle of ethical concern to include all of humanity, and even all sentient beings, is an immense challenge.
Section: 4, Chapter: 16
Book: 21 Lessons for the 21st Century
Author: Yuval Noah Harari
The Inverted U-Curve Between Punishment and Crime
The relationship between punishment and crime follows an inverted U-curve. Increasing punishment and enforcement does deter crime up to a point. But after that point, additional punishment stops producing gains and can even make crime increase again. This is because extremely long sentences have diminishing returns in deterrence, since many criminals are not forward-thinking enough for the difference between a 10 vs. 20 year sentence to matter.
Meanwhile, over-incarceration imposes tremendous collateral damage on communities and families, which can cause crime to go back up. Children with incarcerated parents are much more likely to become criminals themselves. Putting too many people in jail can also overwhelm and delegitimize the justice system in the eyes of the community.
Section: 2, Chapter: 5
Book: David and Goliath
Author: Malcolm Gladwell
Sacred Cows Don't Die Easy
When the truth about Johnson's Baby Powder finally emerged in court, the evidence was overwhelming. Attorney Mark Lanier presented a devastating case: J&J knew for decades that Baby Powder contained asbestos, hid this from regulators, and continued selling while thousands of women developed cancer.
The jury awarded $2.5 billion in punitive damages—one of the largest civil judgments in history. Even after appeals reduced it to $2.1 billion, the Supreme Court upheld the verdict. J&J transferred the money within a day, but the company's 'sacred cow' was finally dead. Baby Powder sales were discontinued globally by 2023.
Section: 2, Chapter: 9
Book: No More Tears
Author: Gardiner Harris
The Texas Two-Step And Avoiding Justice
When Baby Powder lawsuits threatened real accountability, J&J pioneered a legal maneuver called the 'Texas Two-Step.' The company:
- Transferred all Baby Powder liabilities to a subsidiary (LTL Management)
- Put $2 billion in a trust fund for litigation costs
- Declared the subsidiary bankrupt despite J&J's $400+ billion market cap
This allowed the company to cap damages and eliminate punitive awards from outraged juries. Though courts eventually rejected this scheme, it demonstrated J&J's willingness to push legal boundaries just as aggressively as it had pushed medical and ethical ones.
Section: 2, Chapter: 9
Book: No More Tears
Author: Gardiner Harris
