Lucia Zedner

This book arises from a three-year study of Preventive Justice directed by Professor Andrew Ashworth and Professor Lucia Zedner at the University of Oxford. The study seeks to develop an account of the principles and values that should guide and limit the state's use of preventive techniques that involve coercion against the individual. States today are increasingly using criminal law or criminal law-like tools to try to prevent or reduce the risk of anticipated future harm. Such measures include criminalizing conduct at an early stage in order to allow authorities to intervene; incapacitating suspected future wrongdoers; and imposing extended sentences or indefinate on past wrongdoers on the basis of their predicted future conduct - all in the name of public protection and security. The chief justification for the state's use of coercion is protecting the public from harm. Although the rationales and justifications of state punishment have been explored extensively, the scope, limits and principles of preventive justice have attracted little doctrinal or conceptual analysis. This book re-assesses the foundations for the range of coercive measures that states now take in the name of prevention and public protection, focussing particularly on coercive measures involving deprivation of liberty. It examines whether these measures are justified, whether they distort the proper boundaries between criminal and civil law, or whether they signal a larger change in the architecture of security. In so doing, it sets out to establish a framework for what we call 'Preventive Justice'.

This book arises from a three-year study of Preventive Justice directed by Professor Andrew Ashworth and Professor Lucia Zedner at the University of Oxford. The study seeks to develop an account of the principles and values that should guide and limit the state's use of preventive techniques that involve coercion against the individual. States today are increasingly using criminal law or criminal law-like tools to try to prevent or reduce the risk of anticipated future harm. Such measures include criminalizing conduct at an early stage in order to allow authorities to intervene; incapacitating suspected future wrongdoers; and imposing extended sentences or indefinate on past wrongdoers on the basis of their predicted future conduct - all in the name of public protection and security. The chief justification for the state's use of coercion is protecting the public from harm. Although the rationales and justifications of state punishment have been explored extensively, the scope, limits and principles of preventive justice have attracted little doctrinal or conceptual analysis. This book re-assesses the foundations for the range of coercive measures that states now take in the name of prevention and public protection, focussing particularly on coercive measures involving deprivation of liberty. It examines whether these measures are justified, whether they distort the proper boundaries between criminal and civil law, or whether they signal a larger change in the architecture of security. In so doing, it sets out to establish a framework for what we call 'Preventive Justice'.

Just a decade ago security had little claim to criminological attention. Today a combination of disciplinary paradigm shifts, policy changes, and world political events have pushed security to the forefront of the criminological agenda. Distinctions between public safety and private protection, policing and security services, national and international security are being eroded. Post-9/11 the pursuit of security has been hotly debated not least because countering terrorism raises the stakes and licenses extraordinary measures. Security has become a central plank of public policy, a topical political issue, and lucrative focus of private venture but it is not without costs, problems, and paradoxes. As security governs our lives, governing security become a priority.This book provides a brief, authoritative introduction to the history of security from Hobbes to the present day and a timely guide to contemporary security politics and dilemmas. It argues that the pursuit of security poses a significant challenge for criminal justice practices and values. It defends security as public good and suggests a framework of principles by which it might better be governed. Engaging with major academic debates in criminology, law, international relations, politics, and sociology, this book stands at the vanguard of interdisciplinary writing on security.

Just a decade ago security had little claim to criminological attention. Today a combination of disciplinary paradigm shifts, policy changes, and world political events have pushed security to the forefront of the criminological agenda. Distinctions between public safety and private protection, policing and security services, national and international security are being eroded. Post-9/11 the pursuit of security has been hotly debated not least because countering terrorism raises the stakes and licenses extraordinary measures. Security has become a central plank of public policy, a topical political issue, and lucrative focus of private venture but it is not without costs, problems, and paradoxes. As security governs our lives, governing security become a priority.This book provides a brief, authoritative introduction to the history of security from Hobbes to the present day and a timely guide to contemporary security politics and dilemmas. It argues that the pursuit of security poses a significant challenge for criminal justice practices and values. It defends security as public good and suggests a framework of principles by which it might better be governed. Engaging with major academic debates in criminology, law, international relations, politics, and sociology, this book stands at the vanguard of interdisciplinary writing on security.

The pursuit of security is now central to the development of public policy and a driving force behind the spread of private policing. Just as new theoretical frameworks are needed to deal with the increasing tendency of crime control policies to focus on risk reduction, new forms of governance are also required to deal with the rapid growth of the private security industry. This volume brings together a wide range of contributions from leading scholars in the field and includes international and comparative perspectives on the challenges posed by the rise of the 'security society'.

Following in the tradition of the Clarendon Law Series, Criminal Justice is an extended essay on the core concepts, structures, and processes of the criminal justice system. The book prefers theoretical reflection above detailed description and favours provocative questions over simple answers. Its primary aim is to stimulate students of criminal justice to think critically about what they have learned. Criminal Justice challenges conventional understanding of crime, criminal justice and punishment by revealing their meanings to be open to multiple interpretations. It explores the historical contingency and cultural specificity of the institutions and practices of criminal justice. And it considers the many, often conflicting, roles fulfilled by the various players in the criminal process. In so doing, it reveals criminal justice to be more diverse and its purposes more contested than conventional accounts allow. The book concludes by examining radical changes in crime control and the pursuit of security and considering their import for criminal justice as we know it.

An exploration of how the Victorians perceived and explained female crime, and how they responded to it - both in penal theory and in practice. It examines the extent to which gender-based ideologies, social values and concerns influenced attitudes to female criminality.