Accountability In Criminal Justice

Accountability In Criminal Justice

Democratic Justice? Contrasting Models of Accountability in English Criminal Justice

Elizabeth Ruth Turner, from the Unattached, North Shields, made a contribution to the 2012 Annual Conference of the European Society of Criminology, in the category “Crime and Society,” under the title “Democratic Justice? Contrasting Models of Accountability in English Criminal Justice”. Here is the abstract: Elected Police and Crime Commissioners are being introduced in England and Wales from November 2012. The government describes the move as ‘essential to address the democratic deficit in policing’. Meanwhile, ‘Payment by Results’ models for funding projects to reduce reoffending are being introduced, ostensibly to incentivize providers to do ‘what works’, making them more accountable to taxpayers . These two policies stand in rather stark contrast to one another and evoke the enduring tension between a criminal justice system which responds to ‘democratic’ (some might say ‘populist’) demands, and one ordered according to more ‘technocratic’ (or ‘expert’) rationales. This paper will use the practical examples of the contrasting models of accountability contained within these two policies to explore the more abstract theoretical tension between democratic and technocratic approaches to criminal justice. In so doing the paper will also seek to speak to recent debates about the public role of the criminologist, by considering what role criminologists might play in enhancing the democratic credentials of criminal justice in England and Wales.[rtbs name=”criminology”]

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Further Reading

  • “Democratic Justice? Contrasting Models of Accountability in English Criminal Justice”, by Elizabeth Ruth Turner (Proceedings)

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