Respect and Criminal Justice

by Gabrielle Watson

Overview

Respect and Criminal Justice offers the first sustained examination of 'respect' in criminal justice in England and Wales, where the value is elusive but of persisting significance. The book takes the form of a critique of the 'respect deficit' in policing and imprisonment. It is especially concerned with the ways in which both institutions are merely constrained and not characterised by respect. In the course of the critique, it emerges that they appeal to the word 'respect' but rarely and only superficially address the prior question of what it is to respect and be respected. Despite academic interest in the democratic design of these institutions in recent decades, the book concludes that respect is more akin to a slogan than a foundational value of criminal justice practice.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780198833345
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	08/25/2020
Series:	Clarendon Studies in Criminology
Pages:	250
Product dimensions:	8.60(w) x 5.50(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Gabrielle Watson, Shaw Foundation Fellow in Law at Lincoln College, University of Oxford

Gabrielle Watson is the Shaw Foundation Fellow in Law at Lincoln College, University of Oxford. She was formerly a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow in the Faculty of Law and a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Law at Christ Church, Oxford. In Spring 2019, she held the Inaugural Visiting Fellowship in Law at the newly instituted Cambridge Centre for Criminal Justice. In Autumn 2021, she will return to Cambridge as a Visiting Fellow in Law at the CCCJ and at Downing College. She works on topics at the intersection of Criminal Law, Criminal Justice, and Jurisprudence.

Table of Contents

Introduction1: In Search of Respect in Criminal Justice
On Respect, Policing, and Procedural Justice2: Procedural Justice and Narrow Instrumentalism3: Stop and Search as a Respectful Encounter
On Respect and Prison Life4: Penal Policies and Institutional Sociologies5: Respect at Prison Mealtime
6: Realising Respect

Editorial Reviews

"This book blends philosophical, sociological and legal scholarship, and draws upon theoretical and empirical methodologies. In so doing, it succeeds on a num- ber of levels. It effectively reveals the vacuity of selected policies and official statements that lay claim to promoting respect in police and prison practices, thereby exposing a 'respect deficit' in these institutions. It provides a convincing critique of the moral limitations inherent in the dominance of instrumental objectives that flourish in an environment governed by managerialist imperatives. And it also makes a persuasive normative contribution to the debate about how state power should be exercised in policing and prison practices." — Elaine Player, Criminal Law and Philosophy

"Gabrielle Watson argues that the real value and potential of respect as a critical and regulative ideal in criminal justice has been diminished by the tendency to construct it as a side-constraint on (dominant) instrumental concerns such as order, crime prevention, or control. This is an imaginative, sensitive, and finely-textured interpretation of the role that respect might play in a critical analysis of criminal justice." — Nicola Lacey FBA CBE , (London School of Economics) for Oxford University Press

"Gabrielle Watson offers a refreshingly original and bold interdisciplinary analysis of respect in criminal justice settings. The novel paradigm she develops invites us to think creatively and critically about the intrinsic value of respect. She shows us how we might (re)design institutions based on this paradigm. This is work of outstanding quality; it will change the way researchers and policymakers view respect in criminal justice contexts." — Justice Tankebe, (University of Cambridge) for Oxford University Press

"Watson's account is admirably far-reaching and serves as a timely defence of the importance of intrinsic values in criminal justice processes. [It is] innovative in its combination of policing and imprisonment as subjects of study. This pellucid, rigorous, and informed study is a superb contribution to the field and represents an impressive debut monograph." — David Hayes, (University of Sheffield) for Criminology & Criminal Justice

"A significant contribution to the field... an indispensable reference." — Loraine Gelsthorpe and Kyle Treiber , (University of Cambridge) General Editors' Introduction

"Gabrielle Watson's Respect and Criminal Justice is a highly innovative and extremely well written contribution on the role played by respect within the criminal justice system in England and Wales. Having a mainly normative character, the book casts much needed light on the significance of respect as a critical value in fields such as procedural justice and prison conditions. In so doing, Watson elaborates path-breaking perspectives to shift policing and prison practices in Britain." — Executive Committee of the European Society of Criminology

"Fascinating... this work will no doubt serve to stimulate real and sustained debate about what we mean by respect and what role it commands in contemporary policing arenas." — Policing Working Group of the European Society of Criminology

From the Publisher