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The article examines federal and state felony disenfranchisement laws in the U.S. and whether prisoners have the right to serve on a jury. Topics discussed include estimated number of ex-felons who were re-enfranchised by the State of Florida via state constitutional amendment, information on state mobilizations of prisoner enfranchisement, and explanation on the constitutionality of criminal disenfranchisement.

In 2007 the Irish National Crime Council recommended that community courts should be established in Ireland, located in the inner city of Dublin, to deal with quality-of-life offences. In 2009 the final report of the National Commission on Restorative Justice recommended that restorative justice be legislated for, and introduced nationally in the criminal justice system in Ireland, by no later than 2015. Now, in 2019, we are still awaiting the introduction of community courts and the national rollout of restorative justice. Some progress, however, has been made in both areas. In 2014 the Minister for Justice announced that a pilot scheme would be established in Dublin, through which a community court would be established. Close monitoring and evaluation would determine whether community courts should then be rolled out on a national level. Several restorative justice schemes around the country have been expanded since the publication of the final report of the National Commission on Restorative Justice (2009), and a small but dedicated restorative justice movement is developing in Ireland. This paper argues that the rollout of restorative justice should coincide with the development and rollout of community courts in Ireland, and that community courts should contain an element of restorative justice. It also argues that the recent expansion of restorative justice schemes should be allowed to continue independently of the development of community courts in order to help facilitate a national rollout of restorative justice in the Irish criminal justice system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ranging from individual procedural fairness rights to collective citizenship-based models, participatory justice plays a significant role in social rights adjudication under both international human rights and domestic constitutional law jurisdictions. The historic coming into force of the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights invites renewed attention to the role of participatory justice in social rights adjudication. Drawing on diverse bodies of literature pertaining to procedural fairness in public decision-making, democratic experimentalism and law and social change, this article considers the value-based and instrumental justifications for participation in social rights adjudication. Thereafter the application of different kinds of participatory rights in social rights jurisprudence is examined. Two primary types of cases are examined—those involving a potential deprivation of social rights, and those in which it is alleged that there has been a breach of the positive duties to fulfil these rights. Ultimately, the article seeks to demonstrate the value that participatory justice brings to social rights adjudication, its different functions, as well as its integral connections to the substantive dimensions of these rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This article explores the politics produced by civilian community policing groups in the urban margins of Mozambique and Swaziland. By taking over those streets that no one else could control, young unemployed men established themselves as alternative police forces and vectors of power in the neighborhoods. This made them politically significant to local leaders, politicians, and state police officers who both saw them as competitors and enrolled them in their own political agendas. By expanding upon the concept of “street politics,” I argue that the community policing groups developed into what I conceptualize as “street authorities.” Street authority involves a style of politics that relies on the capacity for swift, direct actions, often through violent means, to order the streets, but it is also characterized by momentariness that prevents the formation of stable organizations. Such politics emerge in urban contexts where poor urban citizens mistrust the state and where there is a preference for immediate outcomes because livelihood uncertainties are high, security is low, and it is difficult to express grievances through official political channels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2008, a victim participation system was introduced in Japan, which enabled crime victims to participate in criminal proceedings. One of the goals of the system was to correct the wrong done to victims due to their lack of previous involvement, thus giving crime victims what they "naturally desire," Employing Malcolm Feeley's analytical framework to make sense of planned legal change, this Article show's that the new system emerged against the background of a combination of international trends: victim activism and public perceptions of crime getting out of hand. It finds that for reasons that are not well understood, only a small percentage of victims have made use of the new system. When it comes to the other courtroom players, judges and prosecutors are generally committed to accommodating participating victims, both formally and in practice. The new system further limits defense lawyers' room to maneuver, while also presenting new opportunities for lawyers to represent victims and champion their rights. This Article concludes that the new system expresses a continued commitment to protecting victims' rights and interests, and that the new' system contributes to remedying victims' exclusion from their case, even if the extent to which it succeeds in giving victims what they desire remains uncertain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Japan, the idea of citizen involvement in the judicial process has gained greater acceptance over the past decade. On May 21,2009, Japan implemented its saiban 'in seido or "lay judge system" as part of monumental legal reforms designed to encourage civic engagement, enhance transparency, and provide greater access to the justice system. About eight years before this historic day, a special governmental committee known as the Justice System Reform Council ("JSRC") set forth wide-sweeping recommendations for revamping Japan's judicial system. The underlying goals targeted three pillars of fundamental reform, namely: (i) a justice system that is "easier to use, easier to understand, and more reliable;" (ii) a legal profession "rich both in quality and quantity;" and (iii) a popular base in which citizens' trust in the legal system is enhanced through their participation in legal proceedings. The JSRC viewed the judicial system as an engine capable of propelling both economic and societal change. It believed that lay judge participation could function as a piston in this engine by helping shift Japan away from centralized control and heavy bureaucratic regulation. Lay participation was consistent with the perceived need for Japanese citizens to not only break away from excessive dependency on the government, but also to develop greater civic consciousness, become more actively involved in public affairs, and better integrate community values into the justice system. From the outset, the creation and implementation of the lay judge system have been strongly controlled by the status quo such that direct impact on the outcome of individual criminal trials has been minimized. However, the value of this monumental court reform in Japan has been educational, indirect, and real. This Article examines the direct impact of the lay judge system, describes several of the indirect benefits of the new system, and then explores the potential of the system going forward. This analysis is done through the lens of Malcolm Feeley's 1983 work entitled Court Reform on Trial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Responding to a relative lack of critical research directed specifically to juvenile restorative justice, this article examines the discourse of the Ibero-American Restorative Juvenile Justice Declaration, unanimously approved during the XIX Ibero-American Countries Conference of Ministers of Justice (COMJIB) by Latin American countries, Portugal and Spain. The authors also look at the Leuven Declaration of Restorative Approach to Juvenile Crime conceived by the International Network for Research on Restorative Justice for Juveniles. To critically evaluate these declarations, we utilise the Fairclough, N. (1992.Discourse and social change. Cambridge: Polity Press) tri-dimensional model of critical discourse analysis. Specifically, the authors investigate the representation of juvenile restorative justice and its concepts, employing the Systemic Functional Grammar transitivity system as a tool for the textual analysis. The authors draw on the Pavlich, G. (2005.The governing paradoxes of restorative justice. New York: Routledge-Cavendish) notion ofgoverning paradoxes of restorative justice—what he calls anImitor Paradox. The similarities and differences in discourse patterns of both declarations show that the critical discourse analysis of the Declarations sustain Pavlich’s claims (Pavlich, G. 2005.The governing paradoxes of restorative justice. New York: Routledge-Cavendish) that restorative representations are still framed around state criminal justice and its founding concepts. These results allow us to reflect more broadly on the field of restorative justice and its implications for related fields of knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Restorative justice (RJ) promises to be a better approach to justice for victims and offenders. In doing so, however, it relies on and reinforces identities that have been constructed by the traditional justice system. This paper examines the value of complicating the distinction between, and ultimately thinking beyond, the identities of Victim and Offender. The paper begins with a review of feminist scholarship to argue that RJ should not embrace the identity of Victim or Offender without consideration. The author provides a discursive analysis of community justice programmes in Winnipeg MB, Canada. Staff frame the women they work in ways that trouble the Offender/Victim dichotomy. The dominant subject they construct is the Marginalised Woman. Though the programmes work with criminalised women staff stress the women’s experiences of victimisation and marginalisation. This paper argues that much of the potential for RJ to provide something unique is in its refusal of Offender/Victim identities. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper starts with a basic idea: procedural flexibility is a hallmark of restorative justice. If unregulated, the powers that restorative justice employs could potentially render those accused of wrongdoing at the mercy of its agents’ unfettered discretion. At the same time, insisting on fixed ‘rights of the accused' will likely undermine attempts to salvage a locally responsive justice from today’s conflict management arenas. To address this vexing matter, the author proposes that rights be conceived more broadly as part of historical power struggles, and specifically as attempts to resist conceivable injustices of restorative subjection. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Campaigners for restorative justice suggest that we should deal with criminal behaviour by encouraging those responsible to repair the harm they have caused and that those who cause and suffer harm should be at the centre of deliberation and decision making. This paper explores ‘internal’ obstacles to achieving this goal: structural weaknesses in the case for restorative justice. The focus is on contradictions in the way the campaign for restorative justice has thought about the role of victims in restorative encounters. Involvement of victims is crucial for two quite different reasons: they have an essential role to play in the reform of offenders and they need to be involved to benefit from the healing effects of restorative encounters. Tensions between these two ways of thinking about the rationale for victim involvement have been insufficiently acknowledged. This hampers the campaign for restorative justice from achieving its loftier ambitions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article will discuss developments in Europe as a starting point for analysing how victims’ rights and services might influence evolving conceptions of victimhood in general, and victim images in restorative justice practices in particular. First, the development and implementation of restorative justice and its relation to European victim policies will be presented. Then, a discussion will follow on the victim images that appear in this European landscape, based on critical analysis and research findings regarding the actual position of the victim and his/her rights, including the victim’s position in restorative justice programmes. A final section will deal with perspectives that are offered when notions of justice are put forward to rethink victimhood through restorative justice processes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

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Compensation for expropriation in most western jurisdictions aims to provide justice. Yet, while this quest for justice is inherent in expropriation laws, they nevertheless say little, if any, about the underlying conception of justice or how justice should be pursued. A closer examination of courts’ judgments, as well as scholarly discourse on the quest for justice in expropriations reveals a muddled dialogue in which divergent justifications pull one towards different normative and positive conclusions. Currently, expropriation doctrine purports to incorporate a sense of fair dealings with those who become victim to legal devices such as eminent domain. However, based on current case law, the reality of expropriation laws fails to reflect any true practice of justice.This Article suggests a conceptual change in expropriation laws’ remedial scheme by embracing restorative justice as the underlying concept of what constitutes justice in expropriation law. By establishing expropriation law on a restorative conception of justice, a coherent framework will emerge that is circumstances attentive and will provide practical instruments to overcome some of current law’s most significant challenges. This opens a new venue for both expropriation law and restorative justice. Equally important, the Article provides a novel opportunity to consider restorative justice beyond the borders of criminal law. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper examines the attitudes of Canadian college students' towards the utilization of British restorative justice techniques in everyday policing. In-depth interviews were conducted with two academics from Humber College as well as two professionals in the criminal justice field in the United Kingdom. A sample of 188 students from justice and policing related programs in Humber College were selected to explore students' attitudes towards the British module of restorative justice. Overall students showed positive attitude towards restorative justice (x̄ = 18.09/25; SD = 2.80). The study also shows a significant difference between programs (f = 7.93, p =.000) in their views towards the utilization of British restorative justice techniques in policing. The Community Justice students scored the highest on the scale (x̄ = 19.28/25; SD = 2.86) while the Police Foundations students scored the lowest (x̄ = 17.36/25; SD = 2.61). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to answer the question: can the aspiration for increasing hate crime reporting contained in the United Kingdom Government's action plan on hate crime (2016-2020) be achieved by local agencies in England and Wales? Drawing on findings from research into the barriers to hate crime reporting and research undertaken by the authors and colleagues in 2012 to 2013 in a county in England, this paper will examine the impact of: victim decision making; and the efficacy of third party hate crime reporting centres on hate crime reporting. It will propose two solutions to facilitate increased reporting in the UK and other jurisdictions: an end to end, criminal justice system, hate crime service framework to more effectively support victims; and a typology of reporting provision which will better enable commissioning agencies to assess the capability and capacity of hate crime services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Restorative justice (RJ) has attracted extended research relating to its potential to reduce crime, achieve fairness, and promote victims’ well-being, but there is only limited discussion about the involvement of the community in RJ processes. This study employs grounded theory approach to analyze 26 documented files handled by a RJ program in Jerusalem, Israel. It proposes a multilayered construction of community involvement in RJ referring to four modes of community involvement: facilitators, community representatives, social networks, and the direct stakeholders. The analysis uncovers the unique characteristics of each entity, their potential contribution in promoting community interests, and the challenges in fulfilling their potential contribution. The Article further offers a responsive definition for community representation. Practical implications for RJ programs are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using data from a survey of 2004 Latinos in four urban counties in the USA, this paper considers a question that has not been systematically investigated: how has increasing police involvement in immigration enforcement impacted the perceptions of the police that are held by immigrant and non-immigrant Latinos? Survey results indicate that many Latinos report fear of police, contributing to their social isolation and exacerbating their mistrust of law enforcement authorities. A substantial portion of Latino respondents report that they would be less likely to voluntarily contact the police if they are the victim of a crime, or to provide information about a crime, because they fear that police would use this contact as an opportunity to investigate their immigration status or that of their friends and family members. We use regression analysis to further analyse the determinants of these responses. Our findings suggest that negative encounters with police involving questions of immigration status and perceived unfair treatment, as well as vulnerabilities due to immigration and documentation status, contribute to social isolation and hesitancy to report crimes to police. These findings have implications for cooperation between police and Latino communities, particularly since local authorities have been enrolled in immigration enforcement. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Victim–offender mediation practices bring conflicting parties together so they can engage in a two-way dialogue and ultimately negotiate a mutually agreeable resolution. The fact that apology may be a motivator for participating in the mediation process and that it is often a common outcome of mediation suggests that research on mediation ought to more carefully explore the nature of the apologies that are offered. The present study provides a qualitative exploration of theprevalenceandnatureof the apologies offered by offenders to their victims during face-to-face mediations. Fifty-nine mediation agreements recorded by the longest running mediation scheme in the UK were analysed. It was found that 50.8% of agreements contained mention of the perpetrator saying ‘I’m sorry’ or offering a partial apology (i.e. acknowledging harm and/or promising forbearance). Full apologies were absent in the mediation agreements. Agreements did not make explicit mention of the offender admitting responsibility or expressing remorse or regret. Finally, although the mediation agreements did not make any explicit mention of offenders offering reparation, they did record efforts at providing solutions to the conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including the challenges facing the future of restorative justice (RJ), the institutionalization of RJ practices and the role of community in RJ programs.

Community has long been identified as the key third party in restorative justice processes. However, when it comes to both theorizing community in restorative justice and the actual practice of community participation, conceptual clarity is lacking. A careful reading of the sociological literature on restorative justice and community point to two main reasons why we want to encourage community participation: the creation of effective ritual and offender reintegration. In this article, we present findings from an empirical study of conferencing. We explore varieties of community participation and discuss the benefits and tensions that arise when community participation becomes a formalized element of a mainstream restorative justice practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author reflects on the roles of paralegals in an effective restorative justice administration and reduction of imprisonment rate. Topics include the aspects of the program in Bangladesh in response to the overcrowding of prison, the role of paralegals in restoring administrative dysfunction in restorative justice system, and the corruption-prevention program which aim to eliminate collection of fees for referring cases on restorative justice system.

The article focuses on the aspects of the restorative justice (RJ) administration in Bulgaria. Topics discussed include the cultural, sociological, and criminological factors that affect the implementation RJ, the implication on the high crime rate in the country, and the establishment and participation of nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) on the criminal law implementation.

Populism is widely regarded in the literature as a negative and inherently punitive influence on criminal justice policy. This article challenges this view and highlights the ways in which populism can produce forms of citizen engagement in the criminal justice context that are new and progressive. These possibilities are illustrated through a close analysis of the responses to a single instance of ‘random’ fatal violence: the killing of Thomas Kelly in King’s Cross, Sydney, in 2012. This case study shows how a populist campaign powerfully realigned political allegiances to call for, and achieve, real and enduring action from the New South Wales Government in addressing alcohol-related violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research investigates how a juvenile court was able to solicit and sustain a high degree of community support or “buy-in” for its use of restorative community service and other restorative programs. The article investigates the determinants involved in achieving this support in the face of initial community opposition, including extensive use of community outreach and community involvement in youth service work. The article also investigates debates regarding the use of community service within restorative justice, and draws from the case study to suggest some of the possible benefits and limits of thinking of community service as restorative. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

So far there has been little substantive research about how individuals engaged in counterterrorism initiatives, whether as community members or police officers or other professionals, negotiate this challenging terrain. This article suggests that community-based approaches to counterterrorism rely on the careful construction of certain forms of community engagement, rather than an all-encompassing claim that “communities defeat terrorism.” This article explores this issue further through analyzing and exploring the role that connectors, rather than communities per se, may play in counterterrorism. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Community policing has often been viewed by many as a panacea for solving community-based problems. In particular, following instances of riot or other public disorder, police agencies have instigated this type of approach with a view to regaining support from within communities and restoring public confidence whilst reducing acts of criminality. Inherent within this approach is a focus upon the involvement of community members and their perceptions in order for this approach to succeed. However, such approaches appear to ignore the perceptions of front-line police officers, who are generally considered to be homogenous in their views and attitudes. This article suggests that the success of such community policing initiatives is reliant upon their acceptance by street police, those who have most contact with the public. Utilising the example of the disorders witnessed at Macquarie Fields, Sydney, Australia, the problems associated with this lack of understanding are explored, and discussed with a view to providing insights for police managers and community leaders alike. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, one hears a great deal of talk about the need to legitimize the criminal justice system by bringing it closer to the public via programmes which create bridges between 'communities' and 'offenders' as a route to supporting the latter's reintegration to society. Direct participation in criminal justice by citizens represents a positive step in re-socialising justice, it is argued.1 Furthermore, it asserts the community's interest in avoiding offender recidivism (reoffending), and holds the police, prison and probation services to account for the large amounts of public money spent on their operations. Yet, the belief that bringing 'law abiding' and 'offending' citizens together will foster mutual recognition or integration rests on unexamined assumptions that social solidarity and interaction among citizens have been unaffected by rising social inequality and successive moral panics about law and order in recent decades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores the popularity of the ideal of police professionalism. Topics discussed include the three elements that comprise police professionalism, reasons for the reemergence of the ideal of police professionalism, and the resistance to police professionalism. Also examined is the need to allot more time to explore the benefits of the competing ideal of community policing despite its limitations.

Purpose – This paper aims to reconcile the different theoretical approaches of the next stage of community policing – third-party policing, post-modern policing, community-based policing, public self-policing, community governance and public safety governance – into a cohesive theoretical framework through the integration of the new governance of public administration, systems theory and community development theory. Design/methodology/approach – This paper reviews the existing literature of community-oriented policing (COP) and the concepts of new governance of public administration, then reconciles the two to create a management framework of governance-based policing. Findings – COP falls short in many areas because it represents a natural system orientation and a technical-assistance approach to community development. The next stage of community policing requires an open system founded in the self-help approach to community development and new governance principles. Practical implications – This work addresses the shift from hierarchies to networks as well as detailing the responsibilities of police management to transcend the shortcomings in the current iteration of community policing. It brings a modern public management view (new governance) into policing more cogently and completely than it has been done before. Originality/value – This work is unique to the community policing literature through the application of new governance, systems theory and community development theory to understand the shortfalls of COP and formulate a more cohesive theory of the next evolution of police service delivery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The drug court was developed as a response to the ineffectiveness of the traditional criminal justice response to addiction. It has grown from 1 Miami court in 1989 to more than 2,100 drug court programs across the United States in 2011. The drug court has been described as a restorative or community justice intervention that can benefit the offender, direct and indirect victims, and the community as a whole through its combination of treatment, intensive supervision, and regular court appearances. Although the number of qualitative drug court studies has increased in recent years, there are few studies that compare those who successfully complete the drug court program with those who do not complete. This article is a qualitative study of drug court participants in an Arkansas drug court program. The article compares and contrasts the perceptions of those graduated from the program with those who were terminated from the program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community policing is currently a leading paradigm in Western police forces, not least in the Netherlands. However, in agreement with a mounting body of empirical research around the globe, our conclusion is that community policing strategies in the Netherlands (more precisely in Amsterdam) do not meet the basic principle of close relationships between citizens and the police. Nevertheless, if we were to lower our expectations to a more realistic level, then a modest (or ‘light’) version of community policing might emerge. This version calls for a small number of active citizens, a visible community police officer, and open communication channels between all stakeholders. We argue that such a view of community policing still offers promise, since proximity between police officers and citizens enhances their mutual understanding and cooperation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article focuses on criminal informants and their importance in the criminal justice system. Topics include the concept of disloyalty and betrayal, civilian cooperation and compliance with the law, and police legitimacy. Information is provided on police-community relations, alternative policing strategies, and the reporting of noncriminal suspicious behavior.

The article focuses on jury instruction as a constitutional teaching moment in the U.S. Topics include the American jury as a constitutional structure, the need for juries in the U.S. criminal justice system, and constitutional awareness. Information is provided on jury service as a constitutional right and requirement of U.S. citizens.

Since the collapse of the treatment ideology, public opinion has assumed an increasingly central role as a basis for legitimising current crime policy. It is therefore important to be able to capture and describe the public's views on penal sanctions. Assessments of public opinion regarding appropriate sanctioning levels are largely made on the basis of different types of survey. The problems associated with how such surveys should be implemented in order to produce valid results have been discussed at length. The issue of how the results should be presented in order to provide a representative picture of public opinion have more rarely been explicitly problematized however. This article examines the question of how large a proportion, and which segments, of the public are represented in different descriptions of public opinion that can be produced based on survey results. The issue is examined on the basis of a national Swedish postal survey, in which the respondents were asked to state which sanction should be awarded in relation to six crimes described in the form of vignettes. The survey shows that public opinion on appropriate sanctioning levels is very varied. Summarizing public opinion is thus not a straightforward task. Different descriptions that are similarly representative in relation to one another lead to different conclusions as to what public opinion views as appropriate sanctioning levels. Routine references to public opinion are thus quite arbitrary unless those who refer to a certain description of public opinion also justify why this particular description is relevant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]