Whose criminal justice? State or community?

Source: (2010) Hook, Hampshire: Waterside Press.

The overarching theme of the book is the balance between the role of central government in creating and shaping the regulatory framework of criminal justice and the potential for communities at local level to become more involved and to exercise more responsibility for themselves in responding to crime and anti-social behviour in their midst. These twin dynamics are explored in the two main sections of the book. In Part I (The Regulatory State) through a series of case studies, the authors examine how the central state has sought to address the risks and problems associated with crime and antisocial behaviour in modern times. They consider the new context for law and order which arose during the period under consideration and ask how and why new sanctions were put in place to regulate particular kinds of behaviour. They also highlight some of the unintended consequences, notably the criminalisation of more people. Then in Part II (Empowered Communities as Stakeholders in Criminal Justice) the book explores the potential for local communities playing a greater role in addressing the problems of crime and anti-social behaviour in their own neighborhoods. In this section of the book the authors also consider the prospects for crime reduction through a more ‘localist’ approach in which citizens and communities play a more active role in a ‘big society.’ (distributor’s description)