Rethinking Policing and Justice: Exploring Alternatives to Law Enforcement

It has become somewhat axiomatic to refer to the police as the ‘gatekeepers’ of the criminal justice system and thus as a mechanism for the provision of justice. And yet, when we conceptualize the police in this way, what is often taken for granted is the exact nature of that role and its larger social meaning. Indeed, we know that police deliver justice more efficiently to some and injustice to others. Rethinking Policing and Justice critically examines the role of policing (both state and non-state forms) in the provision of justice (and injustice). In essence, it presents work that highlights how different communities and groups have sought alternatives to policing, sometimes taking over the functions of policing. It also shows a variety of theoretical, methodology, and other approaches for the critical evaluation of law enforcement, highlighing different insights into alternative modes of policing, as we seek to understand and redraft the relationship between policing and justice.

This book was originally published as a special issue of Contemporary Justice Review.

Luis A. Fernandez is Associate Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Northern Arizona University, USA. He is the author of several books, including Policing Dissent: Social Control and the Anti-Globalization Movement and Shutting Down the Streets: Political Violence and Social Control in the Global Era.

Laura Huey is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Western Ontario, Canada. Laura is the author of several publications in the fields of policing, victimization and surveillance, including Negotiating Demands: The Politics of Policing of Skid Row in Edinburgh, San Francisco and Vancouver.