The first of these pathologies is excessive individualism. While American society has become increasingly dominated by organizations, these organizations are frequently held above the law. In the King case, for example, there is clearly an institutional problem within the Los Angeles police department, and yet blame for the crime rests solely with the individuals. The organization which promotes and enables such violence is not held accountable. The authors believe that criminal charges should have been filed against the Los Angeles Police Department as an organization, in addition to the individual officers involved. The second pathology identified in this article is the neglect of shame. In many societies, the emotion of shame and feelings of responsibility that are promoted by the criminal justice system are effective deterrents to crime. In the United States, however, the justice system is sufficiently sterile and impersonal to remove the perpetrator from feelings of accountability and shame. The final pathology of the U.S. criminal justice system identified in this article is the neglect of healing. Where communities have been torn apart by ethnic differences, a well-designed criminal justice system has the objective of healing rifts within the community through a variety of measures. The failure of the U.S. system to address this need results in episodes such as the riots in Los Angeles. 4 references