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A force for change? The prospects for applying restorative justice to citizen complaints against the police in England and Wales

A force for change? The prospects for applying restorative justice to citizen complaints against the police in England and Wales
A force for change? The prospects for applying restorative justice to citizen complaints against the police in England and Wales
The rise of the victim support movement and the emergence of restorative justice practices have established ‘the victim’ as central to debate on criminal justice policy in the United Kingdom. However, victims of police misconduct have to date remained largely invisible within this debate. The aggrieved citizen is not allocated the morally validated status of ‘victim’ but the highly problematic status of ‘complainant’. As a result, the police complaints system concentrates its efforts on interrogating her or his motives and complaints tend to be rendered unconvincing by the system. In many respects, the system acts to discipline or punish those citizens who have the temerity to lodge a complaint against police officers. It is now proposed, in the context of broader reforms, that the application of restorative justice principles will overcome the core problems associated with the police complaints system.
0007-0955
635-653
McLaughlin, Eugene
06b690de-55d8-4167-9b81-3564463e40bc
Johansen, Anja
ca03678d-282f-48a8-a209-c775c1bf136e
McLaughlin, Eugene
06b690de-55d8-4167-9b81-3564463e40bc
Johansen, Anja
ca03678d-282f-48a8-a209-c775c1bf136e

McLaughlin, Eugene and Johansen, Anja (2002) A force for change? The prospects for applying restorative justice to citizen complaints against the police in England and Wales. British Journal of Criminology, 42 (3), 635-653. (doi:10.1093/bjc/42.3.635).

Record type: Article

Abstract

The rise of the victim support movement and the emergence of restorative justice practices have established ‘the victim’ as central to debate on criminal justice policy in the United Kingdom. However, victims of police misconduct have to date remained largely invisible within this debate. The aggrieved citizen is not allocated the morally validated status of ‘victim’ but the highly problematic status of ‘complainant’. As a result, the police complaints system concentrates its efforts on interrogating her or his motives and complaints tend to be rendered unconvincing by the system. In many respects, the system acts to discipline or punish those citizens who have the temerity to lodge a complaint against police officers. It is now proposed, in the context of broader reforms, that the application of restorative justice principles will overcome the core problems associated with the police complaints system.

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Published date: 2002
Organisations: Social Sciences

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 340133
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/340133
ISSN: 0007-0955
PURE UUID: 879baccb-de54-4f4e-8b4e-95454425b590

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Date deposited: 12 Jun 2012 12:48
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 11:19

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Contributors

Author: Eugene McLaughlin
Author: Anja Johansen

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