Revenge, Justice, and the Law

4 THE WAYNE LAW REVIEW [Vol. 50:4
trial, or right to counsel. 13 The sons served, in every sense of the term, as
the judge, jury, and executioners of Shechem, his father and the men of their
city.
Moreover, the repercussions of the revenge act concern society today,
much as it did Jacob thousands of years ago. Upon learning of the actions
of his sons, Jacob responds “Ye have troubled me to make me to stink
among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and Perizzites: and
I being few in number, they shall gather themselves together against me,
and slay me; and I shall be destroyed, I and my house.” 14 Thus, Jacob’s
admonition reflects the concern that revenge simply creates an increasing
cycle of violence. 15
Such was actually the case in many early civilizations which premised
their system of justice upon revenge. “Blood feuds” often resulted after one
family, seeking justice for an alleged wrong, sought revenge upon the
suspected wrong doer. 16 Even if the revenging tribe punished the actual
wrong doer, and meted out a proportional punishment, the fact that these
decisions were made by an interested party, and not by an impartial body,
would often cast doubt upon the justness of the punishment. And with good
reason. Given the emotional involvement of the revenger, it was entirely
possible, if not likely, that the wrong person would be punished for the
crime. 17 In addition, another concern would be that even if the correct
person was identified by the revenger, that the punishment meted out by the
revengers, due to their emotional involvement, would likely be
disproportionately severe for the crime which was committed. 18 Certainly,
both of these concerns presented themselves in Simeon’s and Levi’s
revenge of their sister’s rape. Thus the revenge act, as was feared by
Jacob, rather than ending the matter, would simply perpetuate and escalate
the disputes.
Primarily for these reasons, 19 we have come to realize that there are
13. See, e.g., U.S. CONST. amends. V, XIV.
14. Genesis 34:30 (King James).
15. JACOBY, supra note 11, at 67; MARTHA MINOW, BETWEEN VENGEANCE AND
FORGIVENESS: FACING HISTORY AFTER GENOCIDE AND MASS VIOLENCE 11 (1998).
16. Lynne N. Henderson, The Wrongs of Victim’s Rights, 37 STAN. L. REV. 937, 939
(1984-85); MARVIN HENBERG, RETRIBUTION: EVIL FOR EVIL IN ETHICS, LAW, AND
LITERATURE 60-61 (1990).
17. JACOBY, supra note 11, at 118.
18. MINOW, supra note 15, at 10; HENBURG, supra note 16, at 60.
19. Solomon, supra note 11, at 253 (“It is because of the likelihood of escalation as well