Community Justice discusses concepts of community within the context of justice policy and programs, and addresses the important relationship between the criminal justice system and the community in the USA. Taking a bold stance in the criminal justice debate, this book argues that crime management is more effective through the use of informal (as opposed to formal) social control. It demonstrates how an increasing number of criminal justice elements are beginning to understand that the development of partnerships within the community that enhance informal social control will lead to a stabilization and possible a decline in crime, especially violent crime, and make communities more liveable. Borrowing from an eclectic toolbox of ideas and strategies - community organizing, environmental crime prevention, private-public partnerships, justice initiatives – Community Justice puts forward a new approach to establishing safe communities, and highlights the failure of the current American justice system in its lack of vision and misuse of resources. Providing detailed information about how community justice fits within each area of the criminal justice system, and including relevant case studies to exemplify this philosophy in action, this book is essential reading for undergraduate and postgraduate students of subjects such as criminology, law and sociology.

An exploration of how design might be led by marginalized communities, dismantle structural inequality, and advance collective liberation and ecological survival. What is the relationship between design, power, and social justice? “Design justice” is an approach to design that is led by marginalized communities and that aims expilcitly to challenge, rather than reproduce, structural inequalities. It has emerged from a growing community of designers in various fields who work closely with social movements and community-based organizations around the world. This book explores the theory and practice of design justice, demonstrates how universalist design principles and practices erase certain groups of people—specifically, those who are intersectionally disadvantaged or multiply burdened under the matrix of domination (white supremacist heteropatriarchy, ableism, capitalism, and settler colonialism)—and invites readers to “build a better world, a world where many worlds fit; linked worlds of collective liberation and ecological sustainability.” Along the way, the book documents a multitude of real-world community-led design practices, each grounded in a particular social movement. Design Justice goes beyond recent calls for design for good, user-centered design, and employment diversity in the technology and design professions; it connects design to larger struggles for collective liberation and ecological survival.

Past methods of probation and parole supervision have largely relied on caseworkers who monitor their "clients" as well as they can. But, as numbers of "clients" increase, studies indicate that this model is ineffectual. The time has come to significantly rethink the approaches to community supervision. As described in What Is Community Justice?, the aim of the new efforts is to explicitly integrate the community and the criminal justice process in probation programs. There are five key goals that this book addresses to achieve this end: The building of partnerships between community supervision agencies and the community Expanding the "client" definition to include the victim of crime, the family of the offender, and the community itself Focus on places: agencies must take into account important local differences in neighborhoods Preventing problems between the community and the client rather than reacting to them Adding value to community life This book addresses the specific ways of achieving these goals by presenting six case studies of probation programs that represent a practical side of the community justice ideal. What emerges is a provocative and enlightening new approach to the problems of probation and parole.

An anthology of original essays, this book presents debates over practice, theory, and implementation of restorative justice. Attention is focused on the movement’s direction toward a more holistic, community-oriented approach to criminal justice intervention.

This book examines the phenomenon of Community Justice Centres and their potential to transform the justice landscape by tackling the underlying causes of crime. Marred by recidivism, addiction, family violence, overflowing courtrooms, crippling prison spending and extreme rates of incarceration, the criminal justice system is in crisis. Community Justice Centres seek to combat this by tackling the underlying causes of crime in a particular neighbourhood and working with local people to redesign the experience of justice and enhance the notion of community. A Community Justice Centre houses a court which works with an interdisciplinary team to address the causes of criminality such as drug addiction, cognitive impairment, mental illness, poverty, abuse and intergenerational trauma. The community thus becomes a key agent of change, partnering with the Centre to tackle local issues and improve safety and community cohesion. This book, based on research into this innovative justice model, examines case studies from around the world, the challenges presented by the model and the potential for bringing its learnings into the mainstream. This book will appeal to academics in law and criminology as well as psychology; it will also be of considerable interest to people working in the criminal justice system, including the police, government policy advisers, psychologists and social workers.

Rule of law has vanished in America’s criminal justice system. Prosecutors decide whom to punish; most accused never face a jury; policing is inconsistent; plea bargaining is rampant; and draconian sentencing fills prisons with mostly minority defendants. A leading criminal law scholar looks to history for the roots of these problems—and solutions.

Over the past forty years, the criminal justice system in the United States has engaged in a very expensive policy failure, attempting to punish its way to public safety, with dismal results. So-called "tough on crime" policies have not only failed to effectively reduce crime, recidivism, and victimization but also created an incredibly inefficient system that routinely fails the public, taxpayers, crime victims, criminal offenders, their families, and their communities. Strategies that focus on behavior change are much more productive and cost effective for reducing crime than punishment, and in this book, William R. Kelly discusses the policy, process, and funding innovations and priorities that the United States needs to effectively reduce crime, recidivism, victimization, and cost. He recommends proactive, evidence-based interventions to address criminogenic behavior; collaborative decision making from a variety of professions and disciplines; and a focus on innovative alternatives to incarceration, such as problem-solving courts and probation. Students, professionals, and policy makers alike will find in this comprehensive text a bracing discussion of how our criminal justice system became broken and the best strategies by which to fix it.