Restorative justice and states' uneasy relationship with their publics

doi:10.1017/CBO9780511974953.017

17 - Restorative justice and states' uneasy relationship with their publics

from PART 3 - Comparative crime control and urban governance

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2011

Joanna Shapland

Edited by

Adam Crawford

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Joanna Shapland: Affiliation:
University of Sheffield
Adam Crawford: Affiliation:
University of Leeds

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Summary

Over the last ten to twenty years, nation states in Western Europe and North America have become somewhat concerned about their publics' reaction to criminal justice (Hough and Roberts 1998; Mattinson and Mirrlees-Black 2000; Judicature 1997). Recent interest in measuring confidence in criminal justice and indeed in developing measures for confidence cross-nationally is a testimony to that concern. Public views on the quality, trustworthiness and legitimacy of criminal justice institutions are newly important, and to be sought, even though governments of nation states vary as to whether they feel that popular views should be mirrored by policy changes.

Several trends have contributed to the perceived need of states to consider public reactions in relation to criminal justice. One is the increasing salience of crime and insecurity politically. Though criminal justice responses to crime are almost certainly now a minor part of states' responses, with crime prevention, controlling social disorder in neighbourhoods and homeland security being dominant trends, criminal justice responses are still seen as a state responsibility and have symbolic importance. Where criminal justice is seen to fail, for example related to major cases such as the Dutroucx case in Belgium, overall citizens' perceptions of government efficacy fall.

Type: Chapter
Information: International and Comparative Criminal Justice and Urban Governance
Convergence and Divergence in Global, National and Local Settings
, pp. 439 - 460

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511974953.017 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2011

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