Step 2 Isn’t Accountability—Settling With Your Own DOJ

I like my institutions how I like my library cards: issued by someone who doesn’t also get to decide whether you owe them. Step 2, “settle with your own DOJ,” is what accountability looks like when the judge turns into the billing department—stamping “apology” like it’s evidence, then calling the settlement the same thing as justice. That’s not process; that’s self-approval dressed in legal stationery.

Because the incentive math is brutally simple: if the same office both marks the rules and signs off on the outcome, the goal stops being consequences and becomes paperwork that closes fast. You don’t get an outside check—you get internal QA, PR language, and a neat little folder labeled “resolution.” And when the referee works for you, the game is already over.