Description of Justice Studies as a Discipline The discipline of Justice Studies is part of a recent movement (twenty-first century) towards understanding the concept of justice in a broader context, and like Sociology, is one discipline in the social sciences category. Ordinarily, the term “justice” is mistakenly interpreted to be interchangeable with “law”, or a subset within a legal framework. However, it is precisely the opposite, which is true. Indeed, “although law can be an aspect of what constitutes justice in a society, justice is not reducible to law” (Medina, 2016, p. 1). Justice Studies seeks to bridge the gap in understanding how the principles of justice inform society’s views about ethical, philosophical, political, social, …show more content…
To clarify, Justice Studies is interdisciplinary and similarly pulls from Political Science and Economics through examining societal issues concerning poverty, inequality, the environment, politics, economics, as well as social and cultural differences. However, Justice Studies differs from Sociology in that it delineates the concepts of equality, equity, crime, punishment, and deterrence. Similar to Sociology, Justice Studies focuses on the larger social and historical context of issues. In contrast, this discipline examines the intersection of how social construction and injustices are connected to race, ethnicity, gender, class, citizenship, human rights, sexual orientation, political views, and socioeconomic status (Jurik, 2015, p. 7). Furthermore, it expands on the ubiquitous narrow perspective of justice/injustice through emphasis on the comprehensive concept of “Justice Literacy” (p. 10). Whereas, Sociology studies the root causes and underpinnings of societal issues in an effort to understand how issues emerge through human interaction, Justice Studies focuses on the consequential effects of how society brings to bear solutions to these societal problems, and examines how society’s interpretation of justice/injustice either exacerbates, or alleviates tensions in society …show more content…
Michel Foucault and Karl Marx). Thus, this discipline integrates the tenets of aggregative, social, environmental, political, and economic justice in addition to the traditional concepts mentioned above. Moreover, Justice Studies encourages students to contemplate enduring theoretical questions about relativism and universalism as they relate to the conception of justice. Justice Studies is notably similar to Sociology, and relies heavily on the work of influential philosophers. For example, Jeremy Bentham and the concept of surveillance (Utilitarianism and the Panopticon); Michel Foucault and his views deterrence (Discipline & Punish); and John Rawls’ social contract and justice theory (Justice as Fairness). Additionally, Dr. Avery Gordon (2004) explains the connection between the disciplines of Justice Studies and Sociology best,
Recently, I have been talking and teaching social theory in relation to Sociology which involves, by contrast, spending an enormous amount of time simply establishing the relevance of justice. To be in Justice Studies, then, is to already know a lot about what knowledge and theory is for. My one simple point is that social justice needs theory, and good social theory will,
In “The Moral Ambivalence of Crime in an Unjust Society” by Jeffrey Reiman he offers a detailed explanation of many different ways to define justice and allows the reader to fully comprehend the meaning of it. Before he even began explaining justice he gave his own experience with crime as way to convey to the reader how his rights had been violated and he had been filled with anger at the criminals instead of the justice that failed him. This first hand encounter with crime allowed Reiman to prove to readers that justice is what is what protects us and it is the criminals who are the problem. To see that even a man who had thought and written about nothing but crime for thirty-five years could still become
The texts “Scales Of Justice” and “Gattaca” are two texts which allow the reader to witness a variety of interpretations and explore the relevant issues that are visible within contemporary society. Such issues as corruption within the police force, racism, sexual harassment, discrimination and manipulation of power are shown to give different interpretations of issues which plague today’s society and potentially our future.
By definition justice means the quality of being just or fair. The issue then stands, is justice fair for everyone? Justice is the administration of law, the act of determining rights and assigning rewards or punishments, "justice deferred is justice denied.” The terms of Justice is brought up in Henry David Thoreau’s writing, “Civil Disobedience.”
The task of identifying my social identity was easier said than done. I acknowledged the somewhat privilege I encounter along with the oppression I endure. In retrospect, my social identity unambiguously resembles a coin where on one side oppression lies with dirt rusting but on the flip side privilege stares right back at me, shining bright. I initially could not see the benefits since I’m a low income college student. I became too encompassed with one side of the coin. After we learned what the word, privilege, indeed meant, I realized the various facets of my life in which that word could apply. Self pity can greedily advance on you from out of nowhere thus averting you from flipping the coin. I familiarized with counting my struggles instead of my blessings. In accordance with my social identity I would say I’m privileged with the
Law and Society, Ninth Edition, by Steven Vago. Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2009 by Pearson Education, Inc
The criminal justice system is full of inequality and disparities among race, gender, and class. From policing neighborhoods, and the ongoing war on drugs, to sentencing, there are underlying biases and discriminatory practices in the criminal justice system that impacts minority communities and groups. Fueled by stereotypes and generalizations, it is important to identify and discuss what crimes take place and who actually makes it up.
The governance of our present day public and social order co-exist within the present day individual. Attempts to recognize the essentiality of equality in hopes of achieving an imaginable notion of structure and order, has led evidence based practitioners such as Herbert Packer to approach crime and the criminal justice system through due process and crime control. A system where packer believed in which ones rights are not to be infringed defrauded or abused was to be considered to be the ideal for procedural fairness. “I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it.” Thomas Jefferson pg 9 cjt To convict an individual because proper consideration was not taken will stir up social unrest rather then it’s initial intent, when he or she who has committed the crime is not punished for their doings can cause for a repetition and even collaboration with other’s for a similar or greater crime.
America is home to the land of opportunity. Millions of immigrants come to the United States each year in pursuit of the American dream. Little do some know they are entering a more strict society compared to the one they left. The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the word, with 716 per 100,000 people getting put behind bars (Wikipedia). How is a country that lives by the words of freedom, and integrity, have higher incarceration rates than the rest of the world? There are 36 states that have higher prison populations than the second leading country, Cuba (vice). There are so many reasons and flaws that can be pointed out
Is race and ethnicity a contemporary issue in today’s modern criminal justice system, or is it an issue of the past. Race and ethnicity plays a huge role in our justice system, to say that is doesn’t would be false. We can look back through history and we can see many example of how much of a role it has played. There are many studies that prove that race and ethnicity is still a current issue in our contemporary criminal justice system. There are many debates about whether it does or does not still impact our justice system as well. We cannot deny that race and ethnicity impacts the operations of our justice system, not justice in our system, but in other systems around the world. In particular, race and ethnicity still impacts our system
Sandel, M. (2009). Justice: What’s the right thing to do? New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux
While pursuing my criminal justice degree at the University of Phoenix, justice is a topic that has arisen constantly and defined differently be numerous individuals. After many discussions involving this topic in the courses, I was able to define justice and what it means to me. Although I do not currently work in the field, the classmates who have experience in the field brought great personal experiences to the discussions. University of Phoenix has also contributed to my definition of justice through the facilitators. The facilitators currently work in the field they are teachi...
The definition of justice and the means by which it must be distributed differ depending on an individual’s background, culture, and own personal morals. As a country of many individualistic citizens, the United States has always tried its best to protect, but not coddle, its people in this area. Therefore, the criminal justice history of the United States is quite extensive and diverse; with each introduction of a new era, more modern technologies and ideals are incorporated into government, all with American citizens’ best interests in mind.
Social justice is the fair and just relation between the individual and society. This is measured by the explicit and tacit terms for the distribution of wealth, opportunities for personal activity and social privileges. In western as well as in Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has often referred to the process of ensuring that individuals fulfill their societal roles and receive what was their due from society. Today social justice lies in between the balance of chaos and insanity. In what possible way could law enforcement be viewed as criminals while professional athletes who show no respect to the country that pays them millions of dollars be viewed as political figures and heroes?
There are many explanations for what punishment characterises. For Emile Durkheim, punishment was mainly an expression of social solidarity and not a form of crime control. Here, the offender attacks the social moral order by committing a crime and therefore, has to be punished, to show that this moral order still "works". Durkheim's theory suggests that punishment must be visible to everyone, and so expresses the outrage of all members of society against the challenge to their collective values. The form of punishment changes between mechanic (torture, execution) and organic (prison) solidarity because the values of society change but the idea behind punishing, the essence, stays the same - keeping the moral order intact not decreasing crime. Foucault has a different view of the role or function of punishment. For Foucault, punishment signifies political control. His theory compares the age of torture with the age of prison, concluding that the shift from the former to the latter is done due to changes in society and new strategies needed for the dominance of it by the rulers. Punishment for Foucault is a show of power first brutal and direct (torture), then organised and rational (prison). Punishment does not get more lenient because of humanitarian reasons but because the power relations in society change.
What does social justice mean to a mother on welfare struggling to feed her family, or to a young college graduate looking for a job? Of course it can be said that all people are subject to the same experiences included in the American dream no matter race, religion, gender, economic status; yet centuries seem to fly by like water in a downhill stream, and the world’s smudged reality of social justice is still intact. Social justice is defined as fair treatment in the distribution of wealth, opportunity, and privileges: this includes education, economic opportunities, health care, property, and fair subjugation to laws. Although some progress has been made, it is still very important for society to fully grasp