The Power to Criminalize: Violence, Inequality and Law

by Elizabeth Comack, Gillian Balfour

Law’s power to criminalize–to turn a person into a criminal–is formidable. Traditional legal doctrine argues that law dispenses justice in an impartial and unbiased fashion. Critical legal theorists claim that law reproduces gender, race and class inequalities. The Power to Criminalize offers an analysis that acknowledges the tensions between these two views of law. Drawing from crown attorneys’ files on violent crime cases and interviews with defence lawyers, the authors reveal the complex ways in which discourses of masculinity, femininity, race, class and social space inform the strategies used to litigate these cases. This analysis raises questions about the prospects of challenging law to realize a more just society.

Genres: Law

200 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[Ty]

So far brillant at showing how the best of intentions don't prevent gross inequalities from occuring in even the most progressively striving legislative systems.

[l]

This is a great little book that succinctly explains the problems with law in dealing with violent crime. I'd recommend it to everyone - lay people and lawyers alike.