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Public Confidence in the Criminal Justice System: The Impact of a Dominant National-Level Discourse on Research and Practice

NCJ Number
223680
Journal
Crime Prevention & Community Safety: An International Journal Volume: 10 Issue: 3 Dated: July 2008 Pages: 174-189
Author(s)
Liz Turner
Date Published
July 2008
Length
16 pages
Annotation
After reviewing Great Britain's dominant national-level discourse on how to increase public confidence in the criminal justice system (CJS), this article analyzes its impact on locally produced research, policy, and practices in this area.
Abstract
The dominant national-level discourse on public confidence in the criminal justice system has four key features. First, "having confidence" means the public is satisfied with its beliefs and perspectives of the CJS. Second, in order to have confidence in the CJS as a whole, the public must believe that the CJS is, does, and achieves what the public wants from it. Third, in order to become confident in the CJS, the public needs to know the right things about the CJS; and fourth, knowing the right things about the CJS is problematic, requiring that the CJS itself must act to ensure that the right information is provided so as to build confidence in it. These features of the dominant discourse have contributed to a model for "confidence" research that may mean handing the power to determine criminal justice priorities to a potentially tyrannical, punitive majority that has little knowledge about or sensitivity to why and how a CJS is effective. This article proposes that discourse and research on public confidence in the CJS have a local focus that examines how people under the jurisdiction of a particular CJS are receiving information about the operation of the local CJS and forming their opinions about what the CJS is doing, why it is doing it, and what it has achieved. Such research can then guide CJS agencies in how to reach the public mind with data and policy information relevant to what CJS professionals and researchers believe is the most effective way to address crime and disorder locally. 2 tables, 4 notes, and 43 references