The Legal System and Social Justice

Paper Summary:

The paper explores human rights and equality legislation, sentencing options and the key principles of restorative justice. The paper explains how the conceptions of social and criminal justice differ in the way they conceptualise both the criminal and the crime. The paper then shows how in its present form, therefore, the legal system has largely negative consequences on the establishment and maintenance of social justice. The paper also points out, however, the many possibilities for allowing social justice to flourish.

From the Paper:

"The purpose of the legal system is to effectively administer the national law. Due to its very nature, the law aims to avoid ambiguity and thus offer a clear and set collection of rules and codes that are capable of universal enforcement. Although for decades there have been protracted attempts to include the ethos of social justice within this legal framework, the two concepts have often come into conflict with one another. The basis of social justice is that all aspects of society afford just and fair treatment for all, including that beyond the auspices of the law (Jordon, 1990) As such, the idea of social justice is capable of transmission to areas unavailable to the law."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Brammer, Alison. "Social Work Law" 2nd Edition, Harlow: Longman, 2007.
• Garland, David. "The Culture of Control: Crime and Social Order in Contemporary Society" Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001.
• Jones, Robert. "Using the Law in Social Work" 2nd Edition, Exeter: Learning Matters, 2005.
• Jordon, Bill. "Social Work in an Unjust Society" Hemel Hemstead: Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1990.
• Maguire, Mike, Reiner Robert and Rod Morgan. "The Oxford Handbook of Criminology" Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007.

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