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This article presumes that immanent-justice judgments are irrational. However, poor self-image and other psychosomatic stressors are already suspected of suppressing immunity. Many suspect that momentary emotional flare-ups precede cold and flu symptoms by a couple of days. An elaborate series of experiments might determine whether guilt over past crimes (or crime-motivating rage) made wrongdoers more vulnerable to disease than less-guilty-feeling controls are.

Mark Mulligan
Seattle, Wash.

Strange is the assumption that immanent justice is an irrational idea, bred of socialization. As far as I know, there is no scientific basis to claim that immanent justice doesn’t accurately correspond to reality, particularly in the daily experience of college students. I wager that octogenarians accept immanent justice even more strongly.

John Day
Santa Barbara, Calif.