What is required for "justice"?

 I am going to take a break from the rona rant for a logorrheic post about the requirements for justice to have been done.  And specifically the requirements for a victim to feel that justice has been done.

I want to take the case of Jeffrey Epstein as an example.  Jeffrey Epstein was a accused of running a massive underaged female sex-trafficking ring.  Specifically, he would find teenaged (post puberty) girls and employ them as ... I don't know what to call them.  They frequently refer to themselves as "sex slaves" but that doesn't sound right to me, as Epstein apparently paid them pretty well (at least the ones that I've read about and were featured on various podcasts).  "Prostitute" doesn't sound right either because prostitution implies maybe more willingness than these girls possessed.  "Victims", for sure.  Anyway, these girls were available for sex and according to the story, Epstein would make these girls available for his high-power friends -- billionaires and politicians like Bill Clinton (and in America, if you are a politician long enough, you end up a billionaire).  One of this friends was Prince Andrew of the UK, a member of the cadet line of royalty and known by the British press as either "Randy Andy" or "The Party Prince".

Another aspect of the case is that apparently Epstein had video of these friends with his underaged girls.  And there's suspicion that this is how Epstein got so rich.  In real life, he only ever had one job that anyone knows about: a financial planner for Leslie Wexner, a billionaire founder of L Brands (The Limited, Abercrombie & Fitch and other clothing outfits).  Such a position could have easily  made Epstein a millionaire, and maybe a hundred-millionaire.  But he lived a lifestyle far beyond that, and it's believed he funded that by calling in favors of this friends who wouldn't want particular information getting out.

Epstein was assisted in this effort by his long-time friend and occasional lover Ghislaine Maxwell, who was described as his "pimp" because she'd often round up these girls.  He was also assisted by Jean-Luc Brunel, a French owner of a modeling agency who apparently funneled some of his models into Epstein's service.

So Epstein was a bad dude surrounded by bad people.

In 2008, Jeffrey Epstein was convicted in a Florida (where he had one of his houses used for such purposes) one one count of soliciting prostitution.  Then he got the sweet-heart deal to end all sweet-heart deals.  He was sentenced to 13 months of jail but got a work-release arrangement where he only had to spend the nights in jail and during the day was free to go to his office or home (and obviously continue the very action he as convicted of).  As part of the deal, Epstein and his co-conspirators were granted immunity from Federal charges and the court record was sealed.  The victims were never notified.  

After his 13 months of non-incarceration, he was released.  In NY where he also maintained a home he was registered as a sex offender and required to check in with the NYPD every 90 days, over the objections of the Manhattan District Attorney, who thought a 90-day check in was too onerous.  In the end, he never checked in and the NYPD never followed up.  

In 2019, Epstein was arrested again in NY on numerous federal charges, and held in the Metropolitan Correction Center (MCC), a filthy, rat-infested prison where the worst offenders are held. During this time, the FBI conducted the kind of investigation you conduct if you don't want to find anything.  They raided his private island and noted the presence of a trove of computers and videos supposedly containing evidence of sexual contact with minors, all conveniently labeled with the people featured in each video.  Then they left.  Note, they cataloged the evidence, but didn't take it or secure it.  Then they went back the next day and, strangely enough, all the evidence was gone!  One wonders who in the FBI sent that catalog to the Epstein gang so they knew what to take and were it was.

After a few weeks in the MCC, Epstein tried to kill himself, and was placed on suicide watch.  "Suicide Watch" is reported to be pretty brutal, with the lights constantly on and no privacy and frequent interviews with therapists so it's considered cruel to subject someone to that for longer than necessary.  So after a week or so on suicide watch he was declared fit and released back to his cell where, after a few more weeks, he was found dead by hanging.  The ruling was suicide.

It came out that there were cameras on that cell, but they were not working.  And the guards were supposed to check on his every 30 minutes but they didn't and falsified the logs to indicate that they had. And he was supposed to have a cell-mate, but that guy had been transferred out the previous day. Epstein had been reported to be in good spirits (why not? He had successfully worked the system so far, why not assume he could do it again?). And then there he is, dead.

Suicide.

Bullshit.

Immediately, "Epstein Didn't Kill Himself" appeared everywhere.  Like "Kilroy was Here" in WWII and other popular slogans.  Immediately, conspiracy theorists everywhere were welcomed back into society with open arms and given profuse apologies for having ever doubted them.  Here's a guy who, if the charges are correct, has dirt on dozens if not hundreds of powerful men, all of whom would want him to keep his mouth shut and would have the pull to ensure he does, and he turns up dead.  Just when it's most necessary that he be dead.  In NY, which is run by the mob and the Democrats (but I repeat myself).  

Bill Barr, the incompetent and likely corrupt Attorney General at the time, demanded an investigation then meekly accepted the result.

As of this writing, not a single one of Epstein's friends who took advantage of his supply of underaged girls has been charged.  Prince Andrew just last week paid twelve million pounds ($16 Million) to make a lawsuit from one of Epstein's victims go away.  That money came from his mother, Queen Elizabeth.

Ghislaine Maxwell is currently in jail, having been convicted of sex trafficking.   Jean-Luc Brunel, just suffered the same fate as Epstein  himself.  Having been arrested in France for sex with minors, he too just mysteriously ended up suicided last week.  Again, no cameras.  Funny how that happens.

There's more to say, but I ran through all of that just to pose this question:  Was justice done?  It would seem that the answer is clearly "NO".  The US Attorney, Florida State Justice Department, Florida Sherrifs, FBI, the NY Prisons and even the  media (which failed to report on any of this until it became possible to tie Epstein to Donald Trump) all colluded to keep this guy from seeing the inside of a courtroom and facing his accusers.   While Maxwell is in jail and could still spill the beans on the people that were on those tapes that the FBI kindly ignored, at this date it looks increasingly likely that no charges will ever be brought against any of the "johns" who personally raped these young girls.  It's also not beyond imagining that Maxwell herself will come a cropper in the coming days or weeks.

But the guy is dead.  Maxwell was not eligible for the death penalty.  Epstein himself wouldn't have gotten the death penalty.  So his fate is worse than what he could have expected.

So if justice wasn't done, what is necessary to say that it was? 

Now I want to say that this point that any outrage I may feel pales in comparison to the outrage of Epstein's victims and their loved ones.  However, in a sense, I am also a victim, though very far removed.  I feel cheated,  having blindly supported the police in the past, because I had to watch law enforcement at every level fail to pursue justice against Jeffrey Epstein.  

In 2014, Eric Garner was caught by the NYPD selling "loosies" on the streets of New York.  Loosies are individual cigarettes sold on the street without collecting sales tax.  Garner resisted arrest and in the scuffle was killed by the police.  In 2014, the NYPD was ignoring the fact that Jeffrey Epstein was failing to check in every 90 days as a high-risk sex offender (and what exactly would that "check-in" entail and how would it prevent him from abusing people the other 89 days?)  Essentially, the NYPD thought that untaxed cigarettes represented a higher risk than a serial sex abuser.

Ah, I hear you say: that's just a few bad apples.  You can't paint the whole police force with such a broad brush.  Well, what about the sheriff in Florida that took money from Epstein while housing him part time in an unlocked cell for sex with underaged girls? Or the US attorney who signed off on the sweet-heart deal? Or the FBI that disappeared all the evidence? Or the Manhattan DA who wanted to reclassify Epstein as a low-risk pervert? Or the Warden who made sure Epstein was unguarded at the time of this demise? That's a lot of bad apples.

But selling loosies is a clear and present danger that must be handled with extreme prejudice.  Maybe if the NYPD was aware that Epstein wasn't paying taxes on his blackmail they'd have taken the case more seriously.

As far as I'm concerned all of those people should be serving Epstein's sentence.  I mean. do we live in a nation of laws or not?  DA's aren't going to take public safety seriously until they hear cell doors clanging shut behind them.

Now back to my original point. What are the requirements of justice?

First question: Does it matter who killed Epstein?  If Epstein killed himself, that follows in a long line of cultures that practice ritual suicide.  That's not a tradition in the US, but perhaps some day it will be if the cops keep failing to arrest criminals and the DA fails to prosecute the few criminals that the cops bother to round up and vigilantism becomes the  norm.  However, to me in 2022, it seems like a cowards way out.  Hey, the MCC is apparently a hell-hole.  I'd rather take my own life than spend the next 20 years there as well.  But that seems like he's escaping justice, not carrying it out.  And yet the guy's dead and as a committed Christian, I believe that Epstein is receiving his justice now.  And how.

But what if Epstein was killed by one of his victims? Or an angry father, brother or boyfriend of one of his victims?  Would that be justice?  Off-hand, I'd say "Yes", but only if it were known to be the case.  Like, even if the victims knew among themselves but it was never publicized, it would seem that justice was done.  But it's still a black mark on the Establishment, all of whom would seem to be implicated in the case (ie, the Justice Department and Newsies didn't want too much trouble for Epstein because they were on those tapes with the girls) and they are still off the hook. So Justice for Epstein but not Alex Acosta (the US Attorney who let Epstein off the hook in Florida) or Alan Dershowitz (Epstein's lawyer and accused "client").

What if Epstein was killed by one of his clients eager to keep him quiet?  Bill Clinton was on Epstein's plane a lot, and the Clintons have so many associates who ended up dead by suicide that it even has it's own term: Arkancide.  What if the previously mentioned Dershowitz was behind it?  Or Prince Andrew? Or any of the other high-profile people supposedly in his black book (which we'd have if the FBI wasn't so diligent in losing it)?  In that case, it'd seem that even less justice was done than if Epstein killed himself because now there's a murder that's unpunished.

So, if Epstein was still alive, then what?  Does Justice require that a judge bang his gavel down and proclaim "guilty" so Epstein is forever known as "convicted child sex pervert" instead of "suspected child sex pervert"? He'd be rotting in some cell someplace, unless Alex Acosta was in charge, for the res of his life.  But he'd have his life.  And he'd still be rich and able to buy favors from the guards and his fellow inmates (which he was apparently doing in the MCC).   And he'd be ... gone.  Out of sight.  Given the behavior of the entire law enforcement apparatus in the US to date, it's unlikely that they'd be all that curious about who his clients were so it'd be like he just dropped into a black hole.  Would the victims feel better than if he was killed?

Maybe no one goes to jail.  Maybe they just lose their reputation. Alan Dershowitz is a creepy old ugly bastard.  If he didn't abuse one of Epstein's girls, he's probably abused others.  If he gets heckled at every speaking event and chased off of every TV show that books him as a talking head (wink) and has to spend the rest of his creepy days under a cloud, that's not justice.  But it's not nothing.  Of course that violates all kinds of moral precepts, none of which Dershowitz is familiar with, being trial lawyer.

Alternately, there are programs that match inmates to their victims for face-to-face meetings.  These meetings have proven to be helpful for both the inmate and victim, at least in some cases.  But of course, this option is off the table for Epstein and Brunel because they are dead and the Restorative Justice program doesn't include seances.  And it's not possible in the case of Epstein's clients because the Feds are slow-walking that investigation, probably until the johns are dead or no longer a political liability.  And it can't be done in the case of Acosta, et al, because being in the Government means never having to say your'e sorry.

So will justice ever be done?  Will all the Prince Andrews in Epstein's little black book write enough checks to make everyone feel better?  Will the FBI ever investigate criminals in bed (literally, in this case) with the DC bigs?

It's hard to imagine.