Black Mirror, White Bear

In this episode of Black Mirror we are introduced to a young woman who is not aware of her identity or anything about herself really. She soon realizes that she is in a world full of onlookers and those who do not fit into that category either kill or are killed.  She soon finds another who she believes will help her by bringing down the system. Towards the end we discover that this whole thing was not real and everything around her was built as a place where she will receive punishment multiple times. It also shown that the reason that she is being punished is because she and her boyfriend abducted, tortured, and killed a six-year old girl. Her boyfriend had committed suicide and it is said that the public felt like he had taken the easy way out. The "justice center" known as "White Bear" was created to inflict psychological punishment on the young women and as a bonus people were allowed and even encouraged to participate as "onlookers". The way that the episode was presented makes the audience feel more sympathetic towards her as oppose if we would have been introduced to the criminal first. Because of that we were able to be more sympathetic towards her.  

The question is if this is form of justice. My opinion would be that it isn't. I understand why the child's parents and maybe even the public would feel like it is. They are seeing it as it's what she deserves and that she should be punished this way for the child's sake, but if anything this is being done for their sake instead. For the parents' situation I feel like it is them having a sense of control over something that lost absolute control of. I feel that this punishment is to put their minds at ease instead.  

There is also the question if the young woman that is punished is the same woman as the one that committed the crime. I don’t think that were the same person because a great part of what makes who we are is our memories and our experiences. Going about the situation this doesn't even affect the person who was the one that committed the crime. If you actually wanted justice I would think that you would need the perosn to be aware of what it is that they are being punished for.