[FlamesAddiction]

I was reading a psychology book a while back and parts of it touched on the notions of justice and revenge a little bit (it called revenge the most natural and basic form of justice, but not necessarily the most appropriate).

The basic messages conveyed from the author was that revenge fantasies are actually quite therapeutic and help people get through difficult situations. It also said that revenge works best if it happens quickly following the event where someone was victimized, but that drawing it out over a long time is counter-productive because the victim will spend too much time, energy and resources dwelling on it. This is why revenge and due process cannot really co-exist. It talked about how the family of victims whose killer was put to death live anxiously until it happens, and then after a small moment "justice", they are let down because of how strenuous the whole process was. The execution can never give them back that time.

It also talked about how the desire for revenge in humans was an important social tools for early human communities.