In all the rhetoric of California's gubernatorial campaign, the word "justice" seems to have disappeared completely, Candidates are eager to talk about crime and punishment, writes PNS associate editor Michael Kroll, but this is no substitute for discussion of one of the country's founding principles. Kroll, an associate editor of Pacific News Service, specializes in criminal justice and death penalty issues.

The concept of "justice" -- as in "liberty and justice for all" -- has all but disappeared from American political campaigns, if California's gubernatorial race is any example.

Not one of the candidates for governor has even addressed the issue. The rhetoric of crime control, if not revenge, has taken the place of any discussion of justice.

On the Republican side, Dan Lungren's view of justice can be found in his support for the execution of children as young as 14. Lungren is now the state's Attorney General, and his office has recently asked the courts to set an execution date for a prisoner many times diagnosed as a schizophrenic without waiting for the jury's verdict in a hearing designed to determine if he is mentally competent -- as required by law before he can be executed.

On this issue, the Democrats do not distinguish themselves from the Republican candidate -- except that they freely call on the icons of the 1960s, who held up justice as a central tenet of their political philosophies.

Al Checchi's TV ads boast that he marched with Martin Luther King, suggesting, at least, that he might have been inspired by the man who described himself as "a drum major for justice."

Alas, not quite. According to Checchi's press office the candidate did attend the 1963 March on Washington, when he was 15, but did not actually march. "It was a defining moment for him," the press office says.

Just what the moment defined cannot be gleaned from Checchi's web-page grab bag of speeches and statements -- none of them on the subject of justice. There is a speech on crime, though. It says, "First, we should enforce the death penalty in California and extend it to serial rapists and repeat child molesters." This does not seem to reflect King's life-long opposition to the death penalty, which he saw as inseparable from his principles of human and civil rights.

Jane Harman, in her web page issue papers, does not mention justice -- as a word, as a theme, as a goal. She does talk about crime, saying she is for "prison construction, three strikes and the death penalty." She claims to be "tough on crime" and supports "tougher laws to punish youthful offenders." "Jane believes in a careful balance of prevention and punishment," say her press aide, reading from the script. Given that California has the largest death row in the nation, locks up more kids for longer times than any other state, and has spent billions of dollars building prisons, it seems fair to ask if Harman thinks we are currently in that balancing act. The aid pauses, then says, "I'll get back to you."

Harman's TV add boasts that she attended the convention at which John F. Kennedy was nominated for president. "Kennedy was so uplifting," according to Harman's press representative. "Jane's introduction to politics was so positive." Asked about the fact that Kennedy was a life-long opponent of the death penalty, she explains, "Well, Jane believes in the spirit of invigoration, not necessarily his positions."

Finally , asked if her candidate has a position on justice, she replies, "She's for it."

And then there is Gray Davis, California's Lieutenant Governor. He tells us proudly in his TV ads he has always been for the death penalty, that he puts himself second to no one when it comes to being tough on crime. His web page addresses neither justice nor crime -- though it does call for a constitutional amendment to protect the flag.

Sometimes it's hard not to be cynical. Each candidate has repeatedly and publicly pledged allegiance to that flag, intoning "liberty and justice for all," but a voter could be excused for believing they are far more interested in votes than in justice.

The first pledge of the preamble to the constitution is "to establish justice." When the government fails to meet that pledge, and when none of the candidates for governor in the nation's largest state show the slightest interest in the concept, then people look elsewhere for justice. They turn to those who offer ideological purity, to religion, to narrow self-interest groups -- to paths that lead to Waco, and to Oklahoma City.