Book review: Perceptions of criminal justice
| Published date | 01 May 2015 |
| Date | 01 May 2015 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0269758015571477 |
| Author | Linda Asquith |
| Subject Matter | Book reviews |
Vicky De Mesmaecker, with Foreword by Tom R Tyler
Perceptions of criminal justice
London: Routledge, 2014, hbk, ISBN 9780415708593, xii þ169 pp.
Reviewed by: Linda Asquith, Nottingham Trent University, UK
The perceived legitimacy of criminal justice is of increasing importance to both policy-makers and
the general public alike. Whether a process appears fair and impartial has a significant impact on
victims’ belief in a just process and procedural fairness, that is, the quality of interactions between
citizens and those who enforce the law is vital. The purpose of Perceptions of Criminal Justice by
Vicky De Mesmaecker is to examine what this fairness means to people involved in legal proceed-
ings, and particularly to investigate perceptions of procedural justice in the criminal justice system
in Belgium from the point of view of a victim or defendant. As such, this book is a valuable insight
into what it means to both victims and perpetrators in terms of what a fair and just criminal justice
system looks like and, although this book is focused on the experiences of victims and offenders in
Belgium, the central messages are transferable to all Western systems of justice.
Importantly, this book is one of the very few qualitative studies in this area (one other such qua-
litative study is Van Camp and Wemmers’ (2013) study of Belgian and Canadian participants in
victim–offender mediation). This methodology has allowed the author to be unconstrained by pre-
determined response categories that are a central part of quantitative studies; furthermore this
approach also allowed new categories to develop from the data – something that quantitative stud-
ies are unable to do. In particular, De Mesmaecker notes that quantitative studies tend to break up
people’s experiences into different types of justice, but people may not differentiate between those
different types, and hence a qualitative approach brings much to the study of procedural justice.
This book is separated into three distinct sections. Section 1 introduces the concept of proce-
dural justice, providing a brief overview of the history of procedural justice research which is
rooted in the work of John Thibaut and Laurens Walker (1975). The section goes on to explain the
methodology of the study, justifying the grounded theory approach clearly and succinctly. This
methodology is used in a constructivist sense (see Charmaz, 2014) in order to explore whether par-
ticipants’ experiences fit the four determinants (voice, standing, neutrality and respect) as devised
by Tyler and Lind’s (1992) model of procedural justice (see also Lind and Tyler, 1988).
Part 2 covers the main data analysis and considers the perceptions of justice in three areas:
encounters with the police, pre-trial encounters with the judiciary and, finally, encounters with the
courts. Within each of these sections, De Mesmaecker explores the perceived fairness of criminal
proceedings through examining eight different areas: respect for dignity, respect for rights, concern
for needs, social standings, absence of bias or prejudice, fact-based decision making, honesty and
performance. These areas are examined through both victim and offender experiences, and each
section is well supported by quotes from participants, which illustrate the concepts and how fair-
ness and justice are perceived through each of the eight areas.
Part 3 concludes the study by extending theories of procedural justice, highlighting the impor-
tance of the elements examined in this book in terms of their impact on perceptions of procedural
justice. It notes, for example, that the perceptions of respect for rights go beyond rights laid down
in law, through to natural or moral rights that people believe they are entitled to. In closing, De
Mesmaecker acknowledges the changing penal landscape and notes that austerity measures are not
conducive to policy changes. Furthermore, she argues that the increased ‘technologization’ of
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