I am really enjoying the series The Rookie. It shows the turbulent day-to-day life of a police department and the complexity of real-world crimes. However, the series has an important feature that sets it apart from other police dramas: amid all the action and adrenaline, there are three rookies trying to adapt to this demanding reality. They are accompanied by three experienced training officers who work to prepare them for active police duty. In every episode, the rookies learn new lessons.
In one episode, I was struck by the firm and important lesson about justice that Officer Lopez, training officer to rookie West, taught him. West wanted to apply the law to the letter, without considering the human context, and refused to write the report. He argued that they had turned the case into a serious crime: what should have resulted in a fine had become a weekend in jail. In the experienced Officer Lopez’s judgment, however, the action was necessary, even though the situation did not fit rigidly within the letter of the law.
At a climactic moment, Lopez asks West, “More than any other rookie, you should know the difference between the spirit and the letter of the law.” At another point, she insists: “You don’t see the difference between being fair and being rigid. And if that wasn’t the first thing your father taught you, then he failed you.”
If we explore the origins of what we know as justice, we find Aeschylus’s Oresteia in Greek theater (458 BC). It illustrates the distinction between two concepts of justice that are central to understanding the evolution of law in Greek tragedy:
- Themis (the mother): Represents an archaic, general, and universal form of justice. She is associated with the laws established at the beginning of the world and enforced by chthonic beings such as the Furies, who act implacably and mechanically according to the Law of Talion: “an eye for an eye.” This form of justice does not consider individual circumstances; it focuses only on the bare fact of the offense.
- Dike (the daughter): Represents a human, reflective, and concrete form of justice. The idea of Dike calls for examining a case in depth and investigating its specific circumstances rather than applying a rigid rule automatically. This is justice expressed through a judicial process, such as the court established by Pallas Athena to try Orestes. It allows the facts to be examined and arguments to be considered, replacing summary vengeance with a reasoned verdict.
In short, the transition from the Furies, associated with Themis, to the benevolent Eumenides symbolizes the move from raw vengeance to an institutionalized and humane system of justice, a shift from the concept of Themis to that of Dike.
In the thirteenth century, Saint Thomas Aquinas explained that a conflict can arise between a general rule—the law—and a specific fact or situation. The rule serves as a guide, but a particular case often does not correspond exactly to what it anticipates. We therefore need to reflect and exercise discernment in light of the specific circumstances before making a decision proportionate to the case, even when it does not fit the rule perfectly. The lesson is that excessive rigidity can lead to injustice.
Returning to the dialogue, Officer Lopez represents Dike’s measured approach to justice, while the rookie is closer to the implacable fury of Themis. Lopez’s actions also align closely with Aquinas’s guidance on addressing conflicts between general rules and specific facts.
Another way measured justice based on Dike can operate is by reducing passions such as vengeance and favoritism during an investigation. This can be seen in the episode “Hour of Death,” in which rookie Nolan and his training officer, Talia Bishop, respond to a robbery at a convenience store. Bishop arrests one suspect while Nolan pursues the other. The criminal breaks into a house and, when cornered, points a gun at Nolan. Nolan fires and kills the assailant in self-defense. As a result, Nolan is suspended and investigated to determine whether the shooting was justified. The detail that fits the concept of Dike’s justice is that the review is conducted by a department different from the one where Nolan is training. This makes it harder for people with close ties to Nolan to show him favoritism.
Contemporary justice, whose concept we inherit from the Greek representation of Dike, consists in seeking a proportionate course of action while minimizing the influence of passions. This cannot be achieved simply by memorizing and applying general rules: the laws must also be applied with attention to context and specific facts. Nor is it possible without keeping passions out of the investigative process. If rookie West insists on acting rigidly, he will inevitably make disproportionate decisions in the complex situations he encounters on patrol. Although he is trying to uphold justice, he will create unjust situations. In Nolan’s case, if the review had not been conducted by another institution, it could have left room for favoritism toward the person being judged, resulting in another situation that falls short of justice.
Finally, in my opinion, Officer Lopez taught West a necessary lesson. She acted with the authority of someone with field experience: someone who understands specific situations, knows the general rules well, and is accustomed to applying the law proportionately while always taking the rules, the facts, and the context of each case into account. It is also clear that having another department review Nolan’s case made the process more reliable.