The document discusses John Rawls' theory of justice, which argues that a just social contract can only exist if people make decisions from behind a "veil of ignorance" without knowing their status or position. It examines how Rawls believes liberty and equality should be the two fundamental principles of justice. Several appendices are included that provide examples intended to illustrate injustices in modern society and ways in which Rawls' principles are not fully realized.

1. John Rawls
What is Justice?
Kayleigh Greenhalgh
20196786

2. Introduction
 In this assignment it will demonstrate understandings of contemporary ethical
issues and dilemmas within criminal justice by looking at Rawlsian injustice.
 It will Assess the influence of people in the criminal justice system on
criminal justice principles.

3. John Rawls
Rawls was an American and political philosopher, he wrote ‘A
Theory of Justice’ and he often gets referred to as Rawlsianism,
he explains that the key ingredients to justice is not merely
about Equality but also about fairness. Rawls expands on
Aristotle’s original theory that ‘treating equals alike and
unequal’s differently in proportionality to their inequality and
that there should be a distributive Justice’.
(Aristotle., Chase and Smith, 2009)
(Rawls,1971)

4. Rawls idea of justice is that hypothetically in society there must
be a ‘social contract’ this is an agreement between all people in
society, Rawls states that the essential feature of the social
contract comes from the ‘original position’.
For the social contract to work people will be joining from an
original position and will only work if no one knows their place in
society, class or sex. If people do not know this they will
distribute their assets, intelligence and abilities fairly.
(Rawls,1971)
(See appendix 1) (occasional links &
commentary, 2019)
Idea of Justice

5. The principles of justice are chosen behind a ‘veil
of ignorance’, this ensures that no one is
disadvantage or advantaged for example the
powerful or the powerless will be treated equally,
and by doing so the principles of justice are the
results of a fair agreement. You can expect from
the contract that it is a two sided exchange, you
abide by the rules you can expect, free health care
or education in the UK and have freedom from
obituary (Rawls,1971).
Figures show that woman are being treated
differently to men still today see (Appendix 2)
(Appendix 2)

6. Rawls states, The
powerless people don’t
always benefit from the
social contract like the
powerful people see
(Appendix 3)

7. Equality and
liberty
Rawls states the liberty principle should be
the most basic principle that all must
receive equally. equality is the the second
principle that every one has the right to
equality in difference. Both are so
important that no government should ever
be able to interfere with Equality or Liberty.
(Rawls,1971). (Appendix 4).
(The Secret
Barrister,2018)

8. Right to property is seen as
a liberty to Rawls
(Rawls,1971) as it was for
John Locke
(Kimball, 2012)
Appendix 5

9. Conclusion
 If everyone was to blindly share there assets out without knowing what they may
get would be a fairer on the powerful and powerless equally. if the government
obliged to the contract, justice would be distributed fairly regardless of financial
status, sex or religion. It has show understanding of contemporary ethical
dilemmas within criminal justice and reflect the ideals of Rawlsian justice through
visual photographs.
(Human Capital Institute, 2017)

10. These photographs show injustice that are happening
within our society. And how the Justice system does not
always adhere to the ‘social contract’ It could be said that
Rawls has a better take on injustice than utilitarianism
because they perceive on turning to an outcome that
creates the greatest happiest for the greatest amount of
people were as Rawls states that everyone should be
treated equally regardless of sex, class and every one
should do this blindly, so what they are dealt will
inevitably creates appreciation (Mill, 2017).
Appendix introduction:
Utilitarianism- decide who
to save!

11. Appendix 1
• This photograph was taken from the internet 3/10/10
how find it? (occasional links & commentary, 2019).
It was chosen to shows why the social contract could
work and how CEO’s (Chief Executive Officers) are
mainly pictured as men.
• It shows that even in todays society men are seen as
superior to women. The BBC have commenced
research to show that woman are hiding the
femininity to show they can be the boss. BBC have
stated that men should advocate for gender
equality(BBC News, 2019).
• Due to men still having the upper hand in businesses
still with only 24 females running companies on the
fortune 500 list, which is down 25% from last year
2017 (Mejia, 2019).The veil of ignorance is not
present even in todays society and this shows that sex
is still being seen differently.
Manly CEO’s
• So what if we was to replace the
name of CEO and replace it with a
more gender neutral name such as
BVO – (Business Executive
Officer). This could let woman be
woman and not feel the need to
live up to the manly tittle. ??

12. Appendix 2
• This photograph was taken while visiting the hospital for treatment.
There was a long wait and liberty and Equality came to mind.
• The NHS states each nurse will question all patients to see if they
qualify for free treatment. A female friend was asked of a black
ethnicity ‘have you ever been questioned about treatment’?, to
which the reply was yes.
• Woman are being treated different to men in the NHS. They are half
as likely to be diagnosed and treated with a heart attack than men.
This shows inequality that doctors are being bias. Even after a
diagnosis they are not receiving the same treatment. It could be said
that men are still being looked at as ‘macho’ than women causing
these women to loose there lives. 8,000 woman have died from
heart attacks needlessly because they did not receive the same care
as men (Donnelly, 2019). (NHS lottery- are you
lucky enough)

13. Appendix 3
(How to fudge the system)
• This photograph (How to Fudge the system) was Taken while looking
through my brother’s tax assessments. Through looking at it, it would not
be ethical to take a full picture of his tax forms but to take the main tittle
shows the effect of how big company's or the powerful can manipulate
their incomes and outgoings so they pay less tax.
• Powerless people are getting branded as thieves for benefit fraud and there
are 74,600 benefit officers (Nao.org.uk, 2017), but the powerful people
who are tax evading are not being tarnished the same. They only employ
522 staff members in the UK to tackle this (GOV.UK, 2018).
• It could be said that money land tax havens are making the rich richer
from the 1950’s you no longer had to hide your money in the ground but
invest it in an offshore account in Switzerland were it did not need to be
declared. The money is taken from the poor stashed and laundered into an
offshore account and spent in more wealthy countries
• In the future an independent person should deal with other people’s tax
assessments rather than finding our own. More tax evading officers need to
be employed to tackle this crime. The governments MPs are claiming
holiday homes to Horlicks and nothing is being raised to stop this
(politics.co.uk, 2019).

14. Appendix 4
• This photograph was taken at home, although this is a risky picture to
take as it cannot be referenced it is reviewed by many figures in the
justice system. They agree with what the Barrister thinks. The book
has its own page on twitter and had over 265,000 followers (The
Secret Barrister).
• The way the photograph was taken was to show a clear tittle of the
book
• An extract has been taken out of the book to symbolise that it is
becoming a ‘modern’ thing to imprison innocent people which
deprives them of their liberty and their human rights are restricted
and this could impact on political points such as voting. If you are
locked up you are not allowed to vote, this could be an innocent
person who was deprived of their freedom of liberty.
• It shows the injustice in todays society and no one is looking at it. The
barrister talks about MG5 bail forms and how the courts deal with
some ones bail in a matter of minutes. It is unjust how someone's life
can be decided on whether they are released or kept in custody in
bad conditions. This book should be read by all to show the injustice
that the courts, police and CPS are displaying in a modern Britain.
MG5 Bail form

15. Appendix 5
(property snakes and ladders)
This photograph (Property snakes and ladders) was taken when
reading on Rawls theory that everyone should have the right to
property (Rawls,1999) it is a photograph of my own home and
did this so ethically it would not interfere with anyone's
privacy.
The angle it was taken slightly off centred to show the full land
that is owned. In 1960, the average first-time buyer was just 23
years old, paying a deposit £595 on their first home – today it is
around £12,738 aged 30 plus. (The Independent, 2019).
If younger people was given the right and help to buy their
own home younger for e.g. no deposit schemes, it would give
help build on society and giving younger people more
responsibility and are more likely to follow the social contract,
thus equating to equality and liberty.

16. Bibliography
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