scholarly journals Young People's Offending Careers and Criminal Justice Contact: A Case for Social Justice

Youth Justice ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 255-268 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.-L. Corr
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marelize Isabel Schoeman

This article explores the concept of criminal justice as a formal process in which parties are judged and often adjudged from the paradigmatic perspective of legal guilt versus legal innocence. While this function of a criminal-justice system is important – and indeed necessary – in any ordered society, a society in transition such as South Africa must question the underlying basis of justice. This self-reflection must include an overview questioning whether the criminal-justice system and its rules are serving the community as originally intended or have become a self-serving function of state in which the final pursuit is outcome-driven as opposed to process-driven. The process of reflection must invariably find its genesis in the question: ‘What is justice?’ While this rhetorical phraseology has become trite through overuse, the author submits that the question remains of prime importance when considered contemporarily but viewed through the lens of historical discourse in African philosophy. In essence, the question remains unanswered. Momentum is added to this debate by the recent movement towards a more human rights and restorative approach to justice as well as the increased recognition of traditional legal approaches to criminal justice. This discussion is wide and in order to delimit its scope the author relies on a Socratically influenced method of knowledge-mining to determine the philosophical principles underpinning the justice versus social justice discourse. It is proposed that lessons learned from African philosophies about justice and social justice can be integrated into modern-day justice systems and contribute to an ordered yet socially oriented approach to justice itself.


Author(s):  
Manouk AW van de Klundert

Boko Haram has victimised numerous women and girls using tactics of sexual terrorism. As criminal justice for this crime is rarely obtained, this article seeks to find ways to bring social justice to its survivors. However, the stigmatisation of the survivors, which is signalled to frequently occur, hampers this process greatly. As survivors of sexual terrorism suffer from stigma, they are being denied social justice, since their position in society is compromised or their suffering is even being denied. This article comprises a literature review that aims to combine published work concerning sexual terrorism, social justice and stigma in an explorative, yet systematic way to identify underlying mechanisms and classify potential ways forward. It was found that stigmatisation, both from wider society as survivors' close connections can have a great psychological impact, on top of the frequently severe physical, psychological, and socio-economic consequences that sexual terrorism already brings forward. Six kinds of interventions were found to reduce the survivor's suffering and stigmatisation, thereby enlarging their social justice.


2021 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 269-271
Author(s):  
Melba V. Pearson

In the wake of the verdict in the Derek Chauvin trial, many people are posing the question as to what is next for racial and social justice. As the power of the prosecutor has been on display in recent months, what can be done to make sure that accountability is spread evenly among all races in the criminal justice system? For decades, the metric of a prosecutor’s success revolved around conviction rates. As thinking has evolved around the country, success now includes areas such as community safety, health, and wellness – which requires a new way to measure the work being done. Data provides this information. Data will play a critical role in ensuring transparency, changing policy, and making sure that justice is dispensed equally. Data creates a common language, as well as evidence regarding what is working effectively, and what is not. We cannot fix what we do not measure.


2020 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Hannah L. Walker

Chapter 1 introduces many research questions, around which the rest of the volume organized. Under what conditions are individuals mobilized by criminal justice experiences and under what conditions do these experiences lead to demobilization? What is the central mechanism connecting criminal justice contact to political mobilization outcomes? Do mobilization and withdrawal vary by racial group? Lastly, does political mobilization and withdrawal vary by type of activity? Chapter 1 further situates the inquiry in a longer history of resistance around issues related to criminal justice, outlines the methodological approach of the research, and gives an overview of the remainder of the manuscript.


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