Focusing on courts and probation, this report looks at what community justice is and how it works in practice, focusing on innovations and recent approaches. In doing so it analyses the potential and limits of community justice and identifies challenges and opportunities for its development.

In recent years, various ideas and practices associated with community justice have been taken up by governments, particularly in the UK. Community justice approaches chime with New Labour’s concern with the promotion of strong communities which are able to tackle problems on their own or in partnership with public services – what the government calls ‘civil renewal’ – and the government has introduced a range of reforms and initiatives at least partly inspired by community justice thinking. At the same time the community justice movement and recent reforms introduced in its name have been criticised from a number of different directions.

The report draws on a series of seminars held at ippr late in 2004 and in first half of 2005, and a range of interviews and field trips undertaken by ippr researchers.

The future of the criminal justice system (CJS) rests on developing new terms of co-operation between government, professionals and service users and citizens. Whatever happens, nothing must be done to weaken the laws and procedures which protect the accused and guard the fundamental rights of citizens. But, this report suggests, community justice approaches could help increase confidence in the CJS, diminish anxieties about crime and relieve punitive pressures on the CJS.

Institute for Public Policy Research
info@ippr.org

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//2005

Ben Rogers

research

Urban Policy > Security & crime prevention > Tackling crime

Enforcement & civil intervention