Over the last two decades, and in the wake of increases in recorded crime and other social changes, British criminal justice policy has become increasingly politicised as an index of governments' ...competence. New and worrying developments, such as the inexorable rise of the US prison population and the rising force of penal severity, seem unstoppable in the face of popular anxiety about crime. But is this inevitable? Nicola Lacey argues that harsh 'penal populism' is not the inevitable fate of all contemporary democracies. Notwithstanding a degree of convergence, globalisation has left many of the key institutional differences between national systems intact, and these help to explain the striking differences in the capacity for penal tolerance in otherwise relatively similar societies. Only by understanding the institutional preconditions for a tolerant criminal justice system can we think clearly about the possible options for reform within particular systems.
How the attorney-client relationship favors the
privileged in criminal court-and denies justice to the poor and to
working-class people of color The number of Americans
arrested, brought to court, ...and incarcerated has skyrocketed in
recent decades. Criminal defendants come from all races and
economic walks of life, but they experience punishment in vastly
different ways. Privilege and Punishment examines how
racial and class inequalities are embedded in the attorney-client
relationship, providing a devastating portrait of inequality and
injustice within and beyond the criminal courts. Matthew Clair
conducted extensive fieldwork in the Boston court system, attending
criminal hearings and interviewing defendants, lawyers, judges,
police officers, and probation officers. In this eye-opening book,
he uncovers how privilege and inequality play out in criminal court
interactions. When disadvantaged defendants try to learn their
legal rights and advocate for themselves, lawyers and judges often
silence, coerce, and punish them. Privileged defendants, who are
more likely to trust their defense attorneys, delegate authority to
their lawyers, defer to judges, and are rewarded for their
compliance. Clair shows how attempts to exercise legal rights often
backfire on the poor and on working-class people of color, and how
effective legal representation alone is no guarantee of justice.
Superbly written and powerfully argued, Privilege and
Punishment draws needed attention to the injustices that are
perpetuated by the attorney-client relationship in today's criminal
courts, and describes the reforms needed to correct them.
Dealing with the aftermath of civil conflict or the fall of a repressive government continues to trouble countries throughout the world. Whereas much of the 1990s was occupied with debates concerning ...the relative merits of criminal prosecutions and truth commissions, by the end of the decade a consensus emerged that this either/or approach was inappropriate and unnecessary. A second generation of transitional justice experiences have stressed both truth and justice and recognize that a single method may inadequately serve societies rebuilding after conflict or dictatorship. Based on studies in ten countries, this book analyzes how some combine multiple institutions, others experiment with community-level initiatives that draw on traditional law and culture, whilst others combine internal actions with transnational or international ones. The authors argue that transitional justice efforts must also consider the challenges to legitimacy and local ownership emerging after external military intervention or occupation.
An analysis of transitional justice - retribution and reparation after a change of political regime - from Athens in the fifth century BC to the present. Part I, 'The Universe of Transitional ...Justice', describes more than thirty transitions, some of them in considerable detail, others more succinctly. Part II, 'The Analytics of Transitional Justice', proposes a framework for explaining the variations among the cases - why after some transitions wrongdoers from the previous regime are punished severely and in other cases mildly or not at all, and victims sometimes compensated generously and sometimes poorly or not at all. After surveying a broad range of justifications and excuses for wrongdoings and criteria for selecting and indemnifying victims, the 2004 book concludes with a discussion of three general explanatory factors: economic and political constraints, the retributive emotions, and the play of party politics.
This edited book challenges the limits of current educational philosophical discourse and argues for a restored normativisation of education through a powerful notion of justice. Moving beyond ...conventional paradigms of how justice and education relate, the book rethinks the promotion of justice in, for, and through education in its current state. Chapters combine international and diverse philosophical perspectives with a focus on contemporary issues, such as climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic, racism, and migrant crises. Divided into three distinct parts, the book explores the ontological and socio-political grounds underlying our notions of education and justice, and offers self-reflective meta-critique on education philosophers’ tendency of promoting and upholding orthodox visions and missions. Ultimately, the book offers contemporary and innovative philosophical reflections on the link between justice and education, and enriches the discourse through a multi-perspectival and sensitive exploration of the topic. It will be of great interest to scholars, researchers, and postgraduate students in the fields of philosophy of education, education policy and politics, education studies, and social justice. The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license. Funded by University of Oslo.
Restorative justice has made significant progress in recent years and now plays an increasingly important role in and alongside the criminal justice systems of a number of countries in different ...parts of the world. In many cases, however, successes and failures, strengths and weaknesses have not been evaluated sufficiently systematically and comprehensively, and it has been difficult to gain an accurate picture of its implementation and the lessons to be drawn from this. Restorative Justice in Practice addresses this need, analyzing the results of the implementation of three restorative justice schemes in England and Wales in the largest and most complete trial of restorative justice with adult offenders worldwide. It aims to bring out the practicalities of setting up and running restorative justice schemes in connection with criminal justice, the costs of doing so and the key professional and ethical issues involved. At the same time the book situates these findings within the growing international academic and policy debates about restorative justice, addressing a number of key issues for criminal justice and penology, including:
how far victim expectations of justice are and can be met by restorative justice aligned with criminal justice
whether ‘community’ is involved in restorative justice for adult offenders and how this relates to social capital
how far restorative justice events relate to processes of desistance (giving up crime), promote reductions in reoffending and link to resettlement
what stages of criminal justice may be most suitable for restorative justice and how this relates to victim and offender needs
the usefulness of conferencing and mediation as forms of restorative justice with adults.
Restorative Justice in Practice will be essential reading for both students and practitioners, and a key contribution to the restorative justice debate.
"This seven year study is the most important research evidence on restorative justice (RJ) in this country. The work challenges some of the myths around restorative justice – for example the finding that 70% of victims of serious crimes chose to meet the offender when this was offered to them, challenges the prevailing view that RJ is only appropriate for less serious crime. Her research has confirmed earlier findings of the strong victim benefits from restorative justice; and provided new evidence for the impact of RJ in reducing re-offending, leading to cost-savings across Criminal Justice. This book will provide essential reading for policy makers interested in evidence-based policy; for criminal justice agencies seeking to give victims a stronger voice in justice; and includes a wealth of information for practitioners who want to know 'what works' and base their restorative practice on the evidence." – Lizzie Nelson, Director, Restorative Justice Council
'This book provides a state-of-the-art analysis of restorative justice, conferences, and mediation for serious cases and adult offenders. It is essential reading for policymakers and practitioners who wish to develop restorative justice schemes that work alongside conventional criminal justice. Its comprehensive and measured analysis is a welcome addition to the research literature. This is a scholarly treatment of restorative justice for the real world and ways to move it from the margins to the mainstream of criminal justice.' – Kathleen Daly, Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Griffith University, Australia
'The authors promised to provide "essential reading" for students and practioners. They have met that promise in regard to both their description of applications of RJ in the adult justice system (pre-trial, during sentencing formulation, and post sentencing) and in their many probing questions regarding RJ in general.' -Eric Assur, in the Restorative Justice Online blog, 2 March 2012
Joanna Shapland is Professor of Criminal Justice in the School of Law, University of Sheffield, and Head of the School of Law; Gwen Robinson is Senior Lecturer in Criminal Justice in the School of Law at the University of Sheffield; Angela Sorsby is a freelance criminologist specialising in data analysis and statistics.
1. Setting the Scene 2. Setting the Schemes in Context: A Review of the Aims, Histories and Results of Restorative Justice 3. Setting Up and Running Restorative Justice Schemes 4. Accountability, Regulation and Risk Experiencing Restorative Justice 5. Approaching Restorative Justice 6. Through a Different Lens: Examining Restorative Justice Using Case Studies 7. During Restorative Justice Events Looking Back at Restorative Justice: What Do People Think it Achieved? 8. The Victims’ View: Satisfaction and Closure 9. Outcome Agreements and their Progress 10. The Offenders’ View: Reoffending and the Road to Desistance 11. Restorative Justice: Lessons from Practice
EPDF and EPUB available Open Access under CC-BY-NC-ND license. Bringing together divergent approaches to justice theorising, this volume connects normative and philosophical theories with the more ...empirically focused approaches emerging today in the social and political sciences and policy scholarship. The chapters overview a variety of mainstream approaches and radical critiques of justice to illustrate their value in addressing the pressing problems of climate change and economic development. Stressing the value of assessing justice theories in light of the material conditions of our changing world, the book concludes with an in-depth synthesis of how these wide ranging approaches to justice will be useful for students, scholars and practitioners concerned with realising justice.
Since 2001, the Gacaca community courts have been the centrepiece of Rwanda's justice and reconciliation programme. Nearly every adult Rwandan has participated in the trials, principally by providing ...eyewitness testimony concerning genocide crimes. Lawyers are banned from any official involvement, an issue that has generated sustained criticism from human rights organisations and international scepticism regarding Gacaca's efficacy. Drawing on more than six years of fieldwork in Rwanda and nearly five hundred interviews with participants in trials, this in-depth ethnographic investigation of a complex transitional justice institution explores the ways in which Rwandans interpret Gacaca. Its conclusions provide indispensable insight into post-genocide justice and reconciliation, as well as the population's views on the future of Rwanda itself.
The Routledge International Handbook on Decolonizing Justice focuses on the growing worldwide movement aimed at decolonizing state policies and practices, and various disciplinary knowledges ...including criminology, social work and law. The collection of original chapters brings together cutting-edge, politically engaged work from a diverse group of writers who take as a starting point an analysis founded in a decolonizing, decolonial and/or Indigenous standpoint. Centering the perspectives of Black, First Nations and other racialized and minoritized peoples, the book makes an internationally significant contribution to the literature. The chapters include analyses of specific decolonization policies and interventions instigated by communities to enhance jurisdictional self-determination; theoretical approaches to decolonization; the importance of research and research ethics as a key foundation of the decolonization process; crucial contemporary issues including deaths in custody, state crime, reparations, and transitional justice; and critical analysis of key institutions of control, including police, courts, corrections, child protection systems and other forms of carcerality. The handbook is divided into five sections which reflect the breadth of the decolonizing literature: • Why decolonization? From the personal to the global • State terror and violence • Abolishing the carceral • Transforming and decolonizing justice • Disrupting epistemic violence This book offers a comprehensive and timely resource for activists, students, academics, and those with an interest in Indigenous studies, decolonial and post-colonial studies, criminal legal institutions and criminology. It provides critical commentary and analyses of the major issues for enhancing social justice internationally. The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.
Beginning with the premise that the principal function of a criminal trial is to find out the truth about a crime, Larry Laudan examines the rules of evidence and procedure that would be appropriate ...if the discovery of the truth were, as higher courts routinely claim, the overriding aim of the criminal justice system. Laudan mounts a systematic critique of existing rules and procedures that are obstacles to that quest. He also examines issues of error distribution by offering the first integrated analysis of the various mechanisms - the standard of proof, the benefit of the doubt, the presumption of innocence and the burden of proof - for implementing society's view about the relative importance of the errors that can occur in a trial.
