Library of Essays on Justice - Second Series – Serie

This collection of scholarly articles takes as its subject matter discourses on environmental justice. The concept emerged in recent decades as an important framing concept for a wide variety of environmental movements and objectives, and has gained considerable currency due to the scope and normative force that its principles contain, whether in legal, political, or philosophical applications. This collection is an invaluable resource for researchers and scholars in this field given that the multiple theories and analyses of environmental justice are likely to remain central to the ongoing development of normative theorizing about the human role in the environment in the foreseeable future.

Interest in victims of crime - victimology - has always spanned both the scholarly and practical realms. This volume combines a collection of essays covering the diversity of approaches towards victimology, from the conceptual to the practical, including evaluation and scrutiny of the basis on which we do justice. The volume is divided into four sections; the first part discusses the nature of victimisation and concepts of the nature of victimhood; the second part looks at the effects of victimisation and some of the ways in which victim support and assistance have developed, and the views of victims on these. The third part considers the role that victims play in criminal justice and their reactions to those roles. Finally, the book looks at responses to victimisation - including attempts to provide acknowledgement, reparation and compensation - within the framework of criminal justice. Much of the research literature on victimology has previously stemmed from Europe and North America, and has been influenced by an Anglo-American common law legal system and views of criminal justice whereas this collection incorporates different legal systems’ perspectives, particularly those of mainland Europe. This book will serve as an important predicate to wider research in victimology and further development of this dynamic field.

The legitimacy and performance of the traditional criminal justice system is the subject of intense scrutiny as the world economic crisis continues to put pressure on governments to cut the costs of the criminal justice system. This volume brings together the leading work on restorative justice to achieve two objectives: to construct a comprehensive and up-to-date conceptual framework for restorative justice suitable even for newcomers; and to challenge the barriers of restorative justice in the hope of taking its theory and practice a step further. The selected articles start by answering some fundamental questions about restorative justice regarding its historical and philosophical origins, and challenge the concept by bringing into the debate the human rights and equality discourses. Also included is material based on empirical testing of restorative justice claims especially those impacting on reoffending rates, victim satisfaction and reintegration. The volume concludes with a critique of restorative justice as well as with analytical thinking that aims to push its barriers. It is hoped that the investigations offered by this volume not only offer hope for a better system for abolitionists and reformists, but also new and convincing evidence to persuade the sceptics in the debate over restorative justice.