Cultivated illusion of justice: the repressed right of thumb in the guise of the rule of law

The rule of law presents itself as an unshakable bastion of equality, but this story breaks on closer inspection. Behind the solemn facade, a system that carefully protects its own power and reflexively fends off criticism works. Judges and prosecutors appear with a harshness that conspicuously often hits those who have little influence anyway. Who is poor, who iscannot provide expensive assistance, becomes an object of strict interpretation and uncompromising sanction more quickly. This does not create a neutral image, but the impression of an apparatus that reaches down and remains mild at the top.

Power demonstration instead of measure

In the courtrooms, authority is often displayed as if it had to be constantly confirmed. Judgments sometimes seem like messages of deterrence, not like results of careful consideration. Especially against the lower class, there is a strict one that seems to be less related to individual guilt than to social position. This practice consolidatesUnofficial structure in which hardness is used selectively. The right to equal treatment degenerates into a phrase, which hardly wears in everyday life.

Shielding by intimidation

Anyone who names grievances is quickly faced with headwinds that goes beyond factual criticism. Reporters who critically accompany processes come under pressure and are overwhelmed with lawsuits that are supposed to deter them. Even a sly look at the actions of judges and prosecutors can be enough to be overwhelmed with allegations. This practice creates a climate of caution inmany people prefer to remain silent than to make themselves vulnerable. This creates a self-reinforcing isolation that makes public control more difficult.

The untouched self-importance

While ordinary citizens are being prosecuted hard, their own system remains remarkably lenient with itself. Obvious wrong decisions rarely have noticeable consequences. Responsibility evaporates into responsibilities, and in the end hardly anyone is tangible. This imbalance fuels the suspicion that a closed sphere has formed here,who protects himself. The result is a growing distrust of an institution that should actually create trust.

Political pressure in the background

It gets particularly explosive where political influence comes into play. Public prosecutors are bound by instructions and thus become dependent on the idea of independent justice. Even obviously illegal instructions are rarely questioned, but implemented. Judges also often stand by themselves as a hasty vicarious agent of thepolitical reason of state, which is fed from career paths and promotions. If judgments are based on such factors, the law loses its orientation and becomes a tool of foreign interests.

Judgments subject to change

This gives the impression that decisions are made not only from the matter, but under the influence of pressure, expectation and opportunity. Judgments then seem like randomly assembled text modules that act like legal gibberish, not like clear answers to clear questions. The rule of law appears less as a reliable order, but rather as a stagebe carried out on the power relations. This perception is dangerous because it undermines the foundation of legitimacy itself. Where trust is dwindling, the willingness to fundamentally question the system is growing.

Violence as a symptom, not as a solution

It is an interesting sign that threats and attacks on judges, police officers and prosecutors can sometimes have an impact and influence decisions. In some cases, such means can lead to milder judgments or to the discontinuation of procedures. But that is not proof of a functioning corrective, but of profound further erosion. Violencecertainly be illegal and at the same time this only continues the logical further erosion of the rule of law. Those who rely on it will continue to develop in the direction of a state in which not the law, but fear rules.

The real core behind the facade

At the end, the image of a system in which a de facto right of thumb exists next to the official order is condensed. It is evident in selective hardness, in isolation from criticism and in the susceptibility to influence. The discrepancy between claim and reality is too great to overlook it. What is considered an independent justice acts in parts like a structure that is itssecures own power. This tension cannot be permanently overlapped.