Foundational Problems in Criminal Justice Knowledge Production

Responsibility problems for criminal justice

It has been argued that empirical science undermines the claim that people can deserve punishment, and that the criminal justice system therefore ought to be radically reformed. Such arguments lose their force if moral responsibility and desert do not depend on what caused the action, but on the agent’s choice. We solve one problem for the justification of the criminal justice system, but creat...

Drug and alcohol problems in the criminal justice system.

The American Medical Association's initiative to improve health care of inmates of American jails and prisons I includes a specific attempt to improve diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of inmates having drug and/or alcohol problems. * * The number of inmates with these problems is substantial. Some estimate that perhaps half or more of all prisoners in the jails and prisons of the United...

From Response to Foresight: Managing Knowledge and Integrated Criminal Justice

In this paper we report on our ongoing study of integrated criminal justice systems. Our focus here is on theorizing the nature of and arrangements among the policy issues, operational activities, and technical architectures to support knowledge sharing among personnel and across geographic and organizational boundaries. Here we draw on data from a comparative case study across three sites to r...

Victorian Criminal Justice System

The criminal trial constitutes a drama performed by its leading actors (legal professionals) plus supporting actors (including spectators). How conscious and strategic are their performances? This article argues that conscious legal performativity is part of a sustained tradition of 'infotainment' with lasting implications for today's real-life courtroom dramas. The adoption of stereotypical co...

Dangerousness and Criminal Justice