1. PROSECUTION AND POLARIZATION
- Author
-
Koh, Steven Arrigg
- Subjects
Victims of crimes -- Remedies -- Laws, regulations and rules ,Transitional justice -- Management -- Laws, regulations and rules -- Evaluation ,Prosecution -- Political aspects -- Laws, regulations and rules -- Evaluation ,Crime -- Social aspects ,Decriminalization -- Evaluation -- Laws, regulations and rules ,Criminal psychology -- Analysis ,Polarization (Social sciences) -- Analysis ,Democratization -- Evaluation ,Government regulation ,Company business management ,Law - Abstract
Domestically and internationally, two prominent contemporary discourses arise in law and society. First, we live in a time of tremendous uncertainty about the nature and function of criminal justice. In the United States, we chronicle mass incarceration, while the international community weighs war crimes prosecutions in Ukraine. Second, we live in a time of polarization, both at home and abroad. Cultural and political division is elevated domestically, while the international community debates fragmentation in a multipolar world. This symposium contribution to the Fordham Urban Law Journal's 'Future of Prosecution' symposium asks: what does it mean to prosecute in a time of polarization? This contribution describes a prosecution-polarization dynamic, wherein criminal cases may foster polarization domestically and internationally. In making this argument, this symposium contribution will survey theories of philosophy, psychology, and sociology that show the complexity of social meaning. It argues that this dynamic thus complicates scholarly notions that criminal justice should do reparative work Domestically, some scholars argue that criminal justice should restore harmed victims or reconstruct torn community norms after a moral breach. Internationally, scholars contend that criminal tribunals should effecttransitional justice, promoting accountability for atrocity crimes--genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes--in order to heal post-conflict societies. And yet, often, indictment and prosecution have the opposite effect, fostering polarization and alienation., Introduction 1118 I. The Prosecution-Polarization Dynamic 1120 A. Defining Polarization 1120 B. Three Stages of Polarization 1123 II. Theorizing Social Meaning and Prosecution 1127 III. Justifying Democratization and Decriminalization 1132 [...]
- Published
- 2023