Non-Adversarial Justice

Source: (2009) Sydney: The Federation Press.

This comprehensive book provides a large overview of emerging trends in Australian criminal justice. While the current system operates under adversarial justice, there have been increasing movements away from it. Some alternative forms of non-adversarial justice that have developed are therapeutic jurisprudence, restorative justice, preventive law, creative problem solving, holistic approaches to law, and appropriate or alternative dispute resolution. Each approach is presented in its own chapter, with information about their backgrounds, potential benefits, and potential drawbacks. The authors then compare and contrast procedure under adversarial justice and non-adversarial justice in the context of family law. Then the book shifts away from modes of justice to specific developments in the legal system that reflect growth away from adversarial justice. These include problem-oriented courts, diversion schemes and intervention programs, indigenous sentencing courts, and managerial and administrative justice. Lastly, the authors develop what the application of adversarial justice to coroners, court management (specifically the development of the judicial role), lawyers, and legal educators would look like.