Has Daniel Penny Turned Conservatives into Social Justice Warriors?
When an accused person goes through the judicial process, we use the phrase “brought to justice.” According to this viewpoint, the fact that the accused had their day in court defines justice, not the verdict.
Social justice advocates have a different perspective. The powerless and the vulnerable should be favored in judicial decisions.
Law-and-order types on the right typically uphold the process, while their counterparts on the left are more concerned with socially just outcomes. The death of Jordan Neely has caused some conservatives to switch roles.
On May 1st, Jordan Neely, a homeless, mentally ill 30-year-old black man, got on a New York subway car and started acting erratic and belligerent, but Daniel Penny, a white 24-year-old ex-marine, came from behind Neely, took Neely to the ground, and kept Neely in a chokehold for several minutes.
Penny believed that by restraining Neely, he was protecting himself and the passengers from Neely’s hostile behavior, but Neely ended up dead. The medical examiner determined that the cause of death was compression of the neck.
Police questioned Penny and then released him without charges, prompting demonstrators to take to the streets of New York to demand for social justice; in other…