Hard to know what’s Just.
A recent event is a video coming out of a driver behaving very dangerously toward cyclists. No actual harm done, but he mounted the pavement toward cyclists, threatened, threw cans at them. Not just one but a number of cyclists, and when the police arrived he reversed away at quite some speed, also hardly safe.
I’d expect (hope) he’s tracked down and prosecuted, but what would be an appropriate measure of censure?
Clearly he needs to understand this isn’t acceptable and that he cannot behave this way again, and other drivers have to be shown that society doesn’t tolerate such behaviour and actions. Naturally, any punishment needs to follow the sentencing guidelines, but as I don’t know these I have the luxury of formulating my own.
Driving is necessary for many jobs, and I don’t think it would be correct to ban him for this one action (or set of actions) if it means he’ll lose his livelihood. His driving history would be very relevant though – if his record is pretty mucky then losing his licence might be appropriate as he’d had enough warnings. Assuming for now he’s been an otherwise decent driver, I’d think about adding sufficient points to his licence to make any further infraction result in a ban. If possible, I’d want these points not to expire quickly, to force long term good behaviour. If possible, I’d have this balanced by something remedial – anger management or driver education? The problem with these things is that they can be a simple sop.
Other possibilities:
- Prison? No. Serves no purpose and is entirely over-severe.
- A fine? Possibly, but this has to be proportionate to his ability to pay. There’s a difference between causing pain and causing hardship.
- Community service? Also possible, but can this be made appropriate?
The difficulty with all of this is that it becomes tailored to the person and their circumstances, and I’m not sure if this is Right. It feels like it should be, but there’s a niggling doubt that it’s a step away from the impartiality that Justice ought to have.