Revenge, Justice, and the Law

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2 THE WAYNE LAW REVIEW [Vol. 50:4 IX. HOW TO INCORPORATE REVENGE INTO THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM .......................................... 52 X. CONCLUSION ....................................... 57 I. INTRODUCTION: THE RAPE OF DINAH In the Book of Genesis, the Bible relates the story of Jacob, one of the founders of Judaism, and his daughter Dinah. Dinah was raped by Shechem, the son of Hamor the Hivite, the ruler of a neighboring city. After raping Dinah, Shechem fell in love with her, and sought to marry her. He beseeched his father to help “Get me this damsel to wife.” 1 Hamor visited Jacob and his sons, and conveyed to the Hebrews his son’s desire to wed Dinah. Further, he promised that if Jacob agreed to the marriage, that the Hebrews could intermarry with Hamor’s people, and thus the two tribes could be one. The Hebrews would be allowed to own land, and otherwise prosper. 2 Speaking on his own behalf, Shechem offered even more than his father, offering to pay any price so long as they permitted him to marry Dinah. 3 Dinah’s brothers responded to Shechem’s offer by stating that they could never agree to their sister marrying a man who was not ‘one of them,’ and that under Jewish law, that meant that Shechem, as well as all the other males of Shechem’s tribe, would have to agree to be circumcised. 4 Shechem, his father, and the males of the village agreed to the proposal. Accordingly all of the males were circumcised. 5 As one can imagine, given the ordeal of the circumcisions, the men were, to say the least, incapacitated. At that point, two of Jacob’s sons, Levi and Simeon entered the city. With weapons drawn, they killed every male. They then looted the city. Thus was Dinah’s rape revenged. 6 Jacob was unaware of his sons’ plans. When he learned of their acts, 1. Genesis 34:1-5 (King James). 2. Id. at 34:6-10. 3. Id. at 34:11-12. 4. Id. at 34:13-17. Male circumcision represented among the Biblical Hebrews, as it does today among most traditional Jews, a ritual which must be preformed if the male is to be considered Jewish. 5. Id. at 34:17-24. 6. Id. at 34:25-29.
2005] VICTIM’S DESIRE FOR VENGEANCE 3 the Bible says that he rebuked them, warning that they now needed to be wary that other neighboring tribes would attack the Hebrews in retaliation for the killing and looting of the Shechemites. 7 To this, Simeon and Levi merely responded: “Should he [Shechem] deal with our sister as with an harlot?” 8 The rape of Dinah and her family’s reaction to it, graphically illustrates both the allures and dangers inherent within revenge. Certainly, one can sympathize, and perhaps even applaud the motivation behind Dinah’s brothers’ act of revenge. 9 Their desire to see that the man who raped their sister is punished is understandable, and arguably commendable as well. However, the consequences of their revenge raise very serious issues regarding both the justness of their punishment, and the repercussions of their acts. On a substantive level, the punishments were clearly unjust. The fact that the tribe’s entire male population was punished for the acts of their prince, while recognized under the principle of collective responsibility as justice under many earlier legal systems, 10 clearly no longer is an acceptable basis for imposing criminal punishment. 11 Moreover, in the United States, the punishment of death for the crime of rape of an adult woman is no longer recognized as proportional in severity. 12 Thus, at least in hindsight, one would question both the scope and degree of punishment . And on a procedural level, the sons’ actions violated every modern tenet and constitutional requirements of procedural due process. There was no arrest, 7. Id. at 34:30. 8. Id. at 34:31. Interestingly, the Bible appears to take no explicit position regarding Jacob’s sons’ actions. In contrast to Jacob, God neither scolds nor punishes Levi or Simeon. Perhaps one can even draw the conclusion that given God’s lack of any rebuke, such silence evinces God’s tacit, if not express, approval of Simeon’s and Levi’s acts. 9. Apparently, the Bible is also silent regarding what measures of vengeance, if any, were desired by Dinah, the victim of the rape. 10. WILLIAM IAN MILLER, BLOODTAKING AND PEACEMAKING: FEUD, LAW, AND SOCIETY IN SAGA ICELAND 180 (1990). 11. SUSAN JACOBY, WILD JUSTICE: THE EVOLUTION OF REVENGE 139 (1983); Robert C. Solomon, Justice and the Passion for Vengeance, in WHAT IS JUSTICE? 253 (Robert C. Solomon & Mark C. Murphy eds., Oxford University Press 2d ed. 2000) (1990). 12. See Coker v. Georgia, 433 U.S. 584, 592 (1977) (holding that a sentence of death was “grossly disproportionate and excessive punishment” for the crime of rape of an adult woman, and thus violated the Eight Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment).
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