Realising Respect
A distinction is routinely drawn between, on the one hand, an approach to criminal justice that distances itself from practice and—in being pitched at a high level of abstraction—represents a mode of ‘utopian critique’ and, on the other hand, an approach to criminal justice that is fully immersed in the applied domain and constitutes itself as a tool of reconstruction and reform. This chapter seeks to reconcile both forms of enquiry, and is organised as follows. The first section draws together various strands of the critique presented in preceding chapters, identifies some recurring themes, and considers the implications of a reductive approach to respect for the liberal credentials of criminal justice. The second section proposes and evaluates three strategies for cultivating respect in policing and imprisonment in England and Wales. They are proposed on the assumption, of course, that policing and criminal justice practices are amenable to intentional design and redesign.