Justice: Why bother? Reflections on why it might have mattered to Scott Crosby
| Author | Ben Wild |
| Published date | 01 March 2021 |
| Date | 01 March 2021 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/2032284420972196 |
| Subject Matter | Analysis/Opinion |
Article
Justice: Why bother?
Reflections on why it might
have mattered to Scott
Crosby
Ben Wild
Crown Prosecution Service, UK
Those who have a ‘why’ to live, can bear with almost any ‘how’.
Victor Frankl
I first met Scott Crosby a little over 4 years ago in Brussels, in February 2016. It was, therefore,
raining.
I was in Brussels on secondment to the Joint UK Law Societies during my solicitor’s 2-year
training contract. I had somehow managed to convince a midsized firm in the small and pretty
English city of Norwich that it really was absolutely vital, and completely in their interests, for me
to go to the heart of the European Union and to gain what insights I could about its impacts on,
well, Norwich. Such impacts, I reasoned, would no doubt continue to flow into the channels of the
English legal system and would continue to percolate into the lives of the people of Norwich for –
surely – many years to come ...
For their part, I imagine the law firm’s Partners simply thought that I would grow out of this
international law phase and would come to see the benefits and virtues of, say, probate law or
possibly residential conveyancing.
The truth was that I had fallen into law, not entirely happily. Like many postgraduates of the
early to mid-2010s, I had struggled to find work in the areas I wanted (why exactly are there so
few perfect jobs in international human rights/humanitarian law/criminal law, involving frequent
travel but also comfortable surroundings, that will pay wonderfully, fulfil fully, and furnish me
with status and social approval?). So, I had gone ‘back to school’, converted my first degree in
politics and modern history into law, and had secured a training contract. As it turns out, this had
been something of a gamble on behalf of the firm’s Partners, one of whom, a Zen Buddhist,
seemed to enjoy my rantings about law and morality – more as something of a spectacle than
anything else.
Corresponding author:
Ben Wild, Crown Prosecution Service, UK.
Email: benpaulwild@gmail.com
New Journal of European Criminal Law
ªThe Author(s) 2020
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DOI: 10.1177/2032284420972196
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2021, Vol. 12(1) 69 –75
Analysis/Opinion
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