Contested ideas of community and justice

Source: (2008) In Joanna Shapland, ed., Justice, Community and Civil Society: A contested terrain. Devon, UK: Willan Publishing. Pp. 1-29.

“The authors of the chapters of this book, each of whom has researched the impact of innovation in criminal justice in their own country, felt themselves far more challenged when they met together to consider why the reaction was as it was – and, as a group, we began to realise how different the intrinsic cultural attitudes in relation to criminal justice are across Europe. What now is the attitude of state criminal justice to lay people, to localities and to groups in an increasingly multicultural society? Why is it reacting as it is? This is a time when states’ monopoly on criminal justice is being questioned and they are being asked on what basis their legitimacy rests, challenged by both globalisation and localisation. The answers, as we shall see, show both cultural specificity and broader moves towards reaching out to citizens and associations representing citizens.” (abstract)