wWhose Voices Belong in Criminal Justice?
This chapter considers the addition of new and different lay voices to criminal justice. The state's monopoly on criminal justice blinds it to the valuable human interests and needs that outsiders have. Crimes harm not just an impersonal state, but real people—people who deserve more consideration and power in criminal procedure. Mediation and other face-to-face interactions between victims and wrongdoers offer this hope. Victims and members of the public could check prosecutors at least by expressing their views. Empowering victims need not license vengeance. Victims care much less about controlling outcomes than about being heard and having a role in fair processes. The suggestions for an individualized, participatory criminal justice system bear some resemblance to three recent criminal justice movements: victims' rights, restorative justice, and therapeutic jurisprudence.
Keywords: state control, participatory criminal justice system, human interests, mediation, victim's rights, restorative justice
Oxford Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs , and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us .