Legitimacy and Compliance in Criminal Justice

Questions of legitimacy and issues of compliance lie at the heart of criminal justice systems and policies. Recent years have seen greater recognition and awareness of the essential role of legitimacy, trust and public confidence in underpinning the effectiveness of criminal justice practices and institutions. As such, experiences and perceptions of legitimacy have direct implications for compliance, whilst securing public compliance remains a pivotal challenge for systems of crime control. Exploring the hitherto neglected links between legitimacy and compliance raises crucial questions about the effectiveness of criminal justice and point to ways in which both elements might be enhanced.
This book brings together leading international scholars to consider a number of connected themes relating to compliance, legitimacy and trust in different areas of criminal justice and social regulation. It presents an inter-disciplinary dialogue and debate that combines insights from criminology, psychology and socio-legal studies drawing together conceptual analysis with empirical research findings in relation to policing, anti-social behaviour interventions, community penalties, electronic monitoring, imprisonment and tax avoidance. In so doing, the book presents advances in theory and conceptual understandings of compliance and legitimacy within systems of crime control.

The contributors highlight the importance of normative and social dimensions to compliance as well as the constructive role played by experiences of procedural fairness and legitimacy in systems of justice. This cutting-edge collection of essays will be invaluable reading for all those interested in thinking critically about the future of criminal justice policies and practices including academics, researchers and criminal justice practitioners.

Adam Crawford is Professor of Criminology and Director of the Centre for Criminal Justice Studies at the University of Leeds. Together with Sam Lewis he is currently engaged in a Nuffield Foundation funded research project exploring the impact of anti-social behaviour interventions with young people in England. He has written about issues of legitimacy and compliance in relation to restorative justice and the civilianisation of policing. He is interested in the compliance implications for behavioural change of different modes of regulation, particularly with regard to young people.

Anthea Hucklesby is Reader in Criminal Justice at the Centre for Criminal Justice Studies, University of Leeds. Her research focuses on criminal justice responses to suspects, defendants and offenders and her recent work has included empirical studies of electronic monitoring, bail support schemes and pre-charge bail. Previous publications include Prisoners’ Resettlement: policy and practice (2007, with Hagley-Dickinson) and Criminal Justice (2009, with Wahidin).