Legal accents, legal borrowing : the international problem-solving court movement / James L. Nolan, Jr.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Nolan, James L., Jr.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Criminal justice, Administration of.

Dispute resolution (Law).

Alternative convictions.

Restorative justice.

Law--American influences.

Law.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (263 p.)

Edition:

Course Book

Place of Publication:

Princeton : Princeton University Press, c2009.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

A wide variety of problem-solving courts have been developed in the United States over the past two decades and are now being adopted in countries around the world. These innovative courts--including drug courts, community courts, domestic violence courts, and mental health courts--do not simply adjudicate offenders. Rather, they attempt to solve the problems underlying such criminal behaviors as petty theft, prostitution, and drug offenses. Legal Accents, Legal Borrowing is a study of the international problem-solving court movement and the first comparative analysis of the development of these courts in the United States and the other countries where the movement is most advanced: England, Scotland, Ireland, Canada, and Australia. Looking at the various ways in which problem-solving courts have been taken up in these countries, James Nolan finds that while importers often see themselves as adapting the American courts to suit local conditions, they may actually be taking in more aspects of American law and culture than they realize or desire. In the countries that adopt them, problem-solving courts may in fact fundamentally challenge traditional ideas about justice. Based on ethnographic research in all six countries, the book examines these cases of legal borrowing for what they reveal about legal and cultural differences, the inextricable tie between law and culture, the processes of globalization, the unique but contested global role of the United States, and the changing face of law and justice around the world.

Contents:

Problem solving and courts of law

Law and culture in comparative perspective

Anglo-American alternatives : England and the United States

Commonwealth contrasts : Canada and Australia

Devolution and difference : Scotland and Ireland

American exceptionalism

Ambivalent anti-Americanism

Building confidence, justifying justice.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9786613057976

9781400830794

1400830796

9781283057974

1283057972

OCLC:

710975234