Victoria: Justice Park or Torture Park?

As we continue watching the different episodes of “Black Mirror,” different questions surrounding morality and justice are arising. In this particular episode, “White Bear” we are presented with many different problems that could be highly influenced based on a person's view on what is morally permissible and justifiable.When I watch this film two specific questions arise: Is the Victoria that aided in the torture of a little girl the same woman that is being tortured? Should punishment be rehabilitative or is it meant for punitive results?

As the story starts, main character, Victoria, is obviously delirious and unaware of her surroundings. She gets flashes of images that she tries to form into memories, to gain recollection of where she is and what is going on. Throughout the episode, she is running away from people who are trying to kill her, and she is trying to understand why witnesses of her being chased are only filming her. However, the turning point of the story is when we learn that Victoria is re-living the crimes that she and her husband committed to a little girl. She gets her memories wiped and relieves this torture daily.

Based in this information, is Victoria really Victoria? Technically, Victoria is the same physical person, but mentally Victoria is not Victoria. It can be said that most people associate their identity based on the experiences of life, and how they respond to them, but Victoria has no sense of her identity because she has no memories of herself. She only gets flashes of times, which don’t reveal any meaningful information. Based on the sole reason that Victoria is not mentally aware of her crimes makes me take the position that the Victoria that is being punished is not the same Victoria that committed the crime.

However, that does not dismiss the fact that Victoria once committed a terrible crime and has to be dealt a punishment. In this particular case, the “park” has intentions on giving “eye for an eye” punishment, but seems treacherous and extends “eye for an eye” punishment because it happens multiple times. Although Victoria has no memory of this reoccurring, the fact that her memory gets wiped each time and is relieved daily makes it treacherous and extreme. Which addresses the second question: Should punishment be rehabilitative or is is only for punitive uses? My personal opinion is that punishments should be rehabilitative because it will allow people to understand their actions; they will understand why they did it, why it wasn’t right and why it should not happen again. Rehabilitative punishment will allow people to learn the error of their ways, and decrease the chances of similar instances reoccurring. Punitive punishment doesn’t have the same results. Normally, people serve the time for the crime, and think nothing more of their crime. White Bear has raised many different questions when dealing with ideas surrounding justice, so when thinking about these questions put this instance into perspective and determine what measures you feel will be the most justified.