The tragic core of criminal justice: Coercive social control and the loss of innocence
Practitioners and academics in Criminal Justice are engaged in tragic work. The core defining aspect of criminal justice is using coercion, or the threat of it, to ensure social control. As noted by many writers, force to compel others taints the character of the compeller who cannot remain both goo...
Main Author: | |
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Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
Published: |
2019
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In: |
International journal of law, crime and justice
Year: 2019, Volume: 58, Pages: 91-99 |
Online Access: |
Volltext (Resolving-System) |
Journals Online & Print: | |
Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
Summary: | Practitioners and academics in Criminal Justice are engaged in tragic work. The core defining aspect of criminal justice is using coercion, or the threat of it, to ensure social control. As noted by many writers, force to compel others taints the character of the compeller who cannot remain both good and innocent, even when force is used for good ends, I argue that a tragic sense of life, which accepts the impossibility of being both good and innocent, is the practical and conceptual glue that defines criminal justice as a discipline. |
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ISSN: | 1756-0616 |
DOI: | 10.1016/j.ijlcj.2019.04.003 |