A 'Local' Response to Community Problems? A Critique of Community Justice Panels
| Author | Kerry Clamp |
| Pages | 21-34 |
21
A 'LOCAL' RESPONSE TO COMMUNITY PROBLEMS? A
CRITIQUE OF COMMUNITY JUSTICE PANELS
Kerry Clamp, Lecturer in Criminology, School of Social Science & Psychology, University of
Western Sydney
Abstract
Community justice panels have had a long and varied history and are now established at
one level or another in most advanced n eoliberal states. They involve local members of
the community as volunteers in responding to crime and have been lauded for their
potential to reduce offending behaviour and provide a more localised, culturally sensitive
approach to crime com mitted by people from those communities. Despite these claims,
they have received relativel y little attention from scho lars working in the areas of
community justice an d restorative justice. This article seeks to review two different
models of community justice panels. The first are those which have been devi sed in the
United States, and subsequently England and Wales, to involve the community in the
‘fight against crime’. The sec ond are those used in Australia and Canada which seek to
minimise th e use of a formal criminal justice response to offending behaviour by
Indigenous peoples and to fac ilitate a culturally sensitive approach in those cases in which
a formal response is unavoidable. Despite their perceived distinct orientation, th is article
demonstrates that both models have inherent limitations in attempting to ‘localise’
justice.
Keywords
Community Justice Panels; Aboriginal Community Justice Panels; restorative justi ce;
community justice
British Journal of Community Justice
©2014 Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield
ISSN 1475-0279
Vol. 12(2): 21-34
To continue reading
Request your trial