NCJ Number
229615
Editor(s)
Deborah Drake,
John Muncie,
Louise Westmarland
Date Published
2010
Length
280 pages
Annotation
This book explores the different ways in which criminal justice manifests itself in cultures of control, experiments in restoration and conflict resolution, risk technologies, private security, techniques of surveillance, transnational policing and in conceptions of universal human rights.
Abstract
Today, criminal justice is being challenged by the emergence of transnational agencies, international legal conventions, and the global flow of policies. This book provides an in-depth critical analysis of how criminal justice is conceptualized and delivered through cultures of control, experiments in conflict resolution; risk and surveillance technologies; private securities; transnational policing; and international human rights. Criminal justice is shown as just one means of imagining 'justice' and as just one possible response to harms, conflicts, and troubles. Chapter 1 is designed to help one think critically about the concept of justice and what it means in different contexts and communities and at different points in history. Chapter 2 considers approaches to the delivery of justice which suggest that the answer to the problem of crime is to punish offenders with tough penalties. The next chapter explores various modes of justice that explicitly move beyond formal criminal justice and legal institutions. Chapter 4 explores the notion of risk and its use in criminal justice contexts. Chapter 5 is designed to illustrate that surveillance is a form of power with various strands. Chapter 6 addresses some fundamental yet recurring questions, such as 'What is policing?'; 'What is policing for and how is it transformed by transnational, international, or supranational developments?' and 'What are the connections and contradictions between the demands for local and global security?' The concluding chapter explores how processes of globalization have impacted on notions of justice and human rights. The key questions asked in this book include: 1) what is meant by criminal justice?; 2) is criminal justice the most effective way of resolving disputes?; and 3) are global developments undermining the autonomy of nation states? Activities, boxes, figures, references, acknowledgements, and index