The old saying is that justice is blind and there is a deep meaning to that. In the 2nd chapter of his epistle to the Romans, Paul tells us that God is not a respecter of persons. Human justice is supposed to model that but rarely does.
What is means is that every crime is supposed to be weighed on the facts of the crime, not the personal attributes of the perpetrator.
In the legal system, we are two kinds of judgements that can be made that help determine culpability. They are called aggravating factors and mitigating factors.
Aggravating factors are those which deem a crime to be more heinous. Among these are how much the crime was pre-meditated, the particular malice or cruelty of the crime and the depraved indifference or lack of remorse of the criminal.
Mitigating factors would be those that lessen the guilt. The greatest of these would be that the crime was the result of an accident or lack of malice. Others might include that the person was in such a season of stress or turmoil that he was not in full possession of his faculties. Another may be that the person has extreme sorrow over the harm caused and the sincere desire to make it right.
All of these human considerations are reflections of two perfect attributes of God- His Justice and Mercy. Like 2 counterbalances drawn in apparent tension against each other, God always is able to reconcile them.
The way God reconciles His Justice and Mercy is to give the one we want most.
Those who want others to receive Justice will themselves receive it. Those who want others to receive mercy, will receive mercy. It's not really complicated but it is really difficult.
The difficulty is that God gives us opportunities to receive mercy only by giving us opportunities to show mercy. That means you will be mistreated, slandered, mocked, persecuted and so on. People will commit violent acts against you, often with no remorse. The complication is that the reason God allows this is likely because you have done the same.
In other words, you owe the same debt.
I am as guilty as anyone and it's a constant fight. I have faced horrible things in my life and I often have little patience for people who do vicious things and say vicious words. I also have my own dark past days of which I am very ashamed.
Drinking the cup of humility and apologizing and forgiving are certainly hard work and I'm not often very good at it. I must constantly remind myself that the measure by which I measure- in anger, contempt, revenge and unforgiveness- will be measured out against me.
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