Fleming Rutledge, in her book on the Crucifixion, breaks down the difficulty we truly have in American Christianity with the concepts of justice AND mercy.

“First, how, in the midst of a feel-good culture, do we grapple responsibly with the biblical assessment of fallen human nature…

“The second challenge is to help Christians understand that even secular justice should be and can be administered out of a deep sense of solidarity among all human beings, so that we never cease to remember that ‘there but for the grace of God go I.’ It is paradoxical, but if we think of all human beings as equally in need of both justice and mercy, we will be much better able to support a legal system that can be severe without sentimentality, yet is unfailingly opposed to inhumanity of every kind — including inhumanity perpetrated by guards in maximum-security prisons.” — Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion: Understanding the Death of Jesus Christ