Transformation & trouble : crime, justice, and participation in democratic South Africa / Diana R. Gordon.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gordon, Diana R.

Contributor:

Michigan Publishing (University of Michigan), publisher.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Criminal justice, Administration of--South Africa.

Criminal justice, Administration of.

Democracy--South Africa.

Democracy.

South Africa--Ethnic relations.

South Africa.

Physical Description:

xiii, 382 p.

Edition:

1st ed.

Other Title:

Transformation and trouble

Place of Publication:

Ann Arbor : University of Michigan Press, c2006.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Crime is one of the major challenges to any new democracy. Violence often increases after the lifting of authoritarian control, or in the aftermath of regime change. But how can a fledgling democracy fight crime without violating the fragile rights of its citizens? In Transformation and Trouble, accomplished theorist and criminal justice scholar Diana Gordon critically examines South Africa's efforts to strike the perilous balance between democratic participation and social control. South Africa has made great progress in pursuing the Western ideals of participatory justice and due process. Yet Gordon finds that popular concerns about crime have fostered the growth of a punitive criminal justice system that undermines the country's rights-oriented political culture. Transformation and Trouble calls for South Africa to reaffirm its commitment to public empowerment by reforming its criminal justice system-an approach, she argues, that would strengthen the country's new democracy. An eloquent, critical, but ultimately optimistic, analysis of the democratization of crime and justice in post-apartheid South Africa. --Bill Dixon, School of Criminology, Education, Sociology and Social Work, Keele University A must read for understanding contemporary South Africa's agonizing dilemmas as it struggles to reconcile crime control with democratic values. --Jerome H. Skolnick, New York University School of Law Gordon's vast experience with criminal justice illuminates her cautionary tale of the search for a new way in south Africa. --Paul Chevigny, New York University Diana Gordon is Professor Emerita of Political Science and Senior Research Scholar, City University of New York.

Contents:

Introduction : two paradigms and a program

Pre-apartheid justice : versatile instrument of repression

Apartheid justice : a contradiction in terms

Bitter fruit from poison seeds

Elements of liberal justice in a new democracy

Protection, integrity, and rights : South Africa's achievements

Public-empowering justice : resource for a new democracy

Participation thwarted : South African failures

Wielding the big stick

Democratic justice and the competent citizen.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (pages 327-350) and index.

Description based on information from the publisher.

ISBN:

1-282-42298-7

9786612422980

0-472-02304-7

OCLC:

609048700