Socrates behind bars: a report on an experimental course on justice and philosophy

This paper describes a particular educational experience: a course that took place in prison involving law students and inmates. One of the co-authors was the leading instructor in the course, whereas the other played an active role during its design and implementation. Social prejudices and taboos on crime, criminals and prisons offer a simplistic, biased and altogether negative image of penal institutions and those involved in them. This picture pervades society in general, and the legal professions in particular. The course described in this paper is aimed at bridging the gap between inmates and future lawyers by bringing them together into the same classroom to think and reflect collectively. The method used was the Socratic dialogue, in which the professor acted as a “spiritual midwife” encouraging dialogue and debate around fundamental issues such as truth, fear, happiness, respect, responsibility, justice, and so on. During each session, participants explored these concepts in depth, and had the opportunity to gain a better understanding of the other’s point of view. The ultimate aim was that upon completing this course both groups could have a better understanding of each other’s realities. This paper is based on the personal accounts of the participants in the course, including professors and students (both law students and inmates). The methodology is qualitative and phenomenological, and its value lies in the singularity of the experience. Drawing on the theory of justice of Amartya Sen, we identify this course as a non-transcendentalist and non-institutionalist approach to justice, exploring the role that emotions play in it. In the conclusions we express our belief that by thinking together and trusting each other students and inmates can open themselves to a logic of cooperation that connects both with a broader sense of justice and the enhancement of democracy.     

Political Emotion

Emotions played a key role in the mass rallies that tookplace in Moscow and other major Russian cities in 2011–13. A comparison between the emotions expressed in anti-government and pro-government rallies shows that participants shared similar views on social order and social justice. However, similar emotions articulated in different locations were imbued with different tonalities and rhetoric. The grassroots horizontal cooperation at the civil society rallies opened up space for crisscrossing communication and interaction among demonstrators, which created vivid, self-organized emotions. The vertical structure of mobilization at the progovernment rallies, which was based on coercion, impeded free communication among its participants, closing off communication in the space of labor collectives, which hindered the production of emotions “from below” and prevented the communication of emotional spontaneity: the protesters could only adopt the emotions broadcast from the stage.     

Procedural justice policing and citizen compliance behaviour: the importance of emotion

Research consistently finds that if authorities use procedural justice in encounters with the public then this will promote citizen cooperation and compliance with the law. Recently, the importance of people's emotional reactions in response to procedural justice and injustice, and the subsequent effect this has on behaviour have been examined. This paper utilises a multi-method approach to examine the mediating role that negative affect plays in the effect of procedural justice policing on citizen compliance behaviour. Study 1 utilises both cross-sectional and longitudinal field survey data collected from Australian citizens who have had a recent contact with a police officer. Study 2 utilises an experimental vignette study designed to assess the causal mechanisms involved in the procedural justice–emotion–compliance relationship. Both studies find that procedural justice is linked to people's self-reported propensity to comply with police. Study 1 and 2 also find that negative affect mediates this relationship. These findings have important implications for training police to interact with the public in a manner that reduces negative emotions and ensures the highest level of compliance from the public.     

Toward a restorative justice pedagogy: reflections on teaching restorative justice in correctional facilities

Restorative justice is currently practiced in a variety of ways inside correctional facilities. One such way is the facilitation of restorative justice education. If grounded in restorative values, such education can contribute to outcomes similar to other restorative practices, such as victim offender dialogue. These outcomes include opportunities to speak to personal experiences, personal change, and growth, and a desire to engage in positive relationships and give back to the community. This paper draws on the teaching and facilitation experiences of the author and incarcerated peer facilitators to develop a restorative justice pedagogy. This pedagogy, based on restorative values, aims to inspire individual and social transformation; build community among participants; give voice to the unique experiences of participants; offer opportunities for real-life problem solving; provide a creative learning environment that is co-created by students and facilitators; view students as practitioners, theorists, and educators; and invite instructors to view themselves as students and share in the learning process. Implications of the restorative justice pedagogy for teaching outside the prison context and with course material other than restorative justice conclude the article.     

Regenerative justice,beyond restoring

This paper outlines a new form of justice, called regenerative justice. Regenerative justice is the coupling of restorative justice with the notion of generative justice, which involves the explicit and intentional discovery and building of life meanings, as well as the consideration of the relationships that those meanings have with wrongdoing and ‘making things right’. This exploration comes about after first considering restorative justice, then providing a critique that uncovers potential blind spots in restorative practice. Logotherapeutic techniques, including: Socratic dialogue, attitude modulation, and dereflection, are used by therapists to help people discover meaning and purpose and have successfully assisted crime victims and offenders. Borrowing from these techniques and specific questioning approaches, restorative dialogue facilitators can enhance restorative practice, particularly in the phases of preparation for restorative dialogue and follow-up after restorative dialogue, by deliberately emphasizing meaning-building discussions (generative justice). Therefore, regenerative justice synthesizes the restoration of people and relationships with the generation of peaceful and healing meanings that can help stakeholders in wrongdoing make sense out of suffering and move forward with a sense of purpose. An example of this process is illustrated in a victim-offender dialogue in a crime of severe violence, where meaning-building can be particularly powerful.     

The emotions of justice

This essay attempts to defend the centrality of emotions in our sense of justice and the importance of empirical research into the emotions in the development of philosophical theories of justice. It includes a defense of the negative emotions as well as a preliminary taxonomy of the emotions involved in justice.     

Punishment justifications in rape cases: a community study

Norway is one of the countries with the most progressive criminal justice systems in the Western world. Traditionally, the Norwegian criminal justice system has been mainly based on treatment and deterrence perspectives. While it is believed that criminal justice practices should be in accordance with public attitudes, few studies in Scandinavia have investigated public attitudes towards criminal justice sanctions in a methodologically sound manner. The current study is the first to investigate the attitudes of the Norwegian public towards punishment of rapists. In a Norwegian community sample (N = 475) from 2005, participants found the typical sentencing severity of a convicted rapist too lenient. The participants did report that as a global sentencing orientation, they preferred incapacitation. When presented with a specific rape case, their sentencing judgements were oriented towards both incapacitation and retribution, but their global orientation were not related to their specific judgements. Aggravating circumstances (e.g. violence was used) were found to influence the participants’ judgements more than when no aggravating circumstances were present (e.g. no violence was used). Few gender or educational differences were found, which indicates that these attitudes towards punishment of rapists are quite consistent across demographical groups.     

法律与道德：正义的法哲学及其发展——以瑞特纳帕拉法学思想研究为核心

正义的概念和范畴,在持不同理论立场的思想家眼中呈现出不同的样态,引发了人们对正义是否是一个值得法理学研究的对象这一问题的深刻思考。瑞特纳帕拉(Suri Ratnapala)通过对法律是什么、为何以及如何遵守法律的法哲学演进的梳理和追问,独创性地区分"依法的正义"和"法律的正义"两种概念,对于法律与道德以及正义的法哲学内核做出了当代诠释和发展。所谓"依法的正义",是指法律是实现正义的手段和工具;"法律的正义",则指特定法律的正义性或道德正当性。但是,只有个体间认知的耦合,才会导致关于正义行为的道德规则的汇聚和产生,因而正义的实现其实就是对以人类经验积累的方式得以建立的基本行为规范的遵守。不同正义理论的建构,旨在使我们共同走向一个美好的理想——运用法律手段建构一种适于人类生活和自由全面发展的社会秩序。     

Expert Evidence,Judicial Reasoning,and the Family Courts Information Pilot

The Family Courts Information Pilot took a modest step towards open justice in Children Act cases by publishing 161 judgments of the County Courts and Family Proceedings Courts. Combining socio‐legal and philosophical analysis on lines inspired by the work of Habermas, this article examines the epistemology of expert testimony implicit in the judgments. What emerges is a form of reasoning based on ‘inference to the best explanation’: judges seek to show that the best explanation for experts saying what they do is that they have good reasons for their opinions. While this approach is not blindly deferential, it has serious limitations in cases where the only experts are local authority social workers and the guardian, and an awareness of these limitations is one reason for the courts' willingness to allow other experts to be instructed. The article also criticizes the analysis of the courts’ use of experts by the recent Family Justice Review.     

Integrating the study of criminal justice and literature

The best interdisciplinary courses are those that not only expand a student’s consciousness but also increase a student’s options. A course in criminal justice and literature can give criminal justice students a broader philosophical basis for work in their profession and metaphors for understanding their discipline. For humanities students, it can reveal the extent to which literature reflects social conditions and criminal justice theories and practices. With this in mind, the authors, professors of criminal justice and English, respectively, designed and taught an experimental course that integrates topics in criminal justice with topics in literature. This article details the philosophies and goals behind this undertaking and describes the specific course objectives, readings and other instructional materials used, and the teaching methods and evaluation procedures employed. Also included are the results of a research survey which explored student perceptions of and reactions to the course. The article concludes by offering suggestions and cautionary advice that would be helpful for those interested in setting up such a curriculum.     

“Too much changing has happened to go back”: professional development,paradigm shifts and poetry

Restorative justice (RJ) holds significant potential as a means for nurturing relational school cultures and addressing harm within those contexts. However, educators participating in professional development (pd), often articulate a commitment to RJ in principle but tend to continue practicing a pedagogy that focuses on controlling student (mis) behavior apart from its relational context. Considering the strong philosophical perspective of humanity on which RJ is grounded, this phenomenological case study examines the impact of pd that explicitly (a) engages with core beliefs and values of RJ and (b) invites participants to examine their personal philosophical stance. Employing theory-guided analysis and poetic inquiry to examine participants’ reflections nine months following their experience, results indicate that commitment and practice are better aligned. A significant change in perspectives emerges self; others; current practice; and group engagement. A list of recommended components for professional development concludes the article.     

法官法律知识的本源与确证——以法官的实践理性为视角

法律作为一门独立的体系知识而与其他知识区别开来是人类社会分工及知识分化的必然结果。法律知识具有其内在价值,对于法官来说,法律知识本身就是一个自为的目的。法官的知识就是对于正义等理念的沉思。法官必须具有将抽象的法律规范同特殊的个案事件联系起来的司法技巧与方法。法官必须要精通法学领域内的相关法律、法规的理论修养。法官的司法实践必须以法律知识为前提。法官既是法律知识系统,同时也是司法行动系统。确认法律具有普遍的适用性,法官应该理性地思考,在现代法律规范中,所有的规定都应该与人类理性的基本价值、人类行为的实践合理性等基本要求相一致。确认法律必须体现自治的原则。法官要力求达到掌握最完全的法律知识,力求达到最高层次的法的确定性追求。     

Youth restorative justice conferencing: facilitator’s language – help or hindrance?

Youth crime is an ongoing concern in Australia. Victims, offenders and the community are all affected by crime and the current criminal justice approach seems both ineffective and inefficient. Restorative justice proponents have posited that their approach to justice through dialogue and negotiation in the conferencing process may be more effective than the traditional retributive justice. Restorative justice conferencing for young offenders is not, however, unfaultable in its ability to reduce the harm caused by crime or to reduce recidivism. The main focus of conferencing has been on the outcomes with limited attention paid to the process and its impact on a young offender’s sense of wrongdoing and remorse. There has been limited research undertaken into the oral competencies of young offenders in relation to their performance in conferencing, and equally limited studies on the specific use of language by facilitators. Other research has shown a coexistence of youth offending and developmental language and learning disabilities. The secondary study discussed in this paper reveals the language difficulties encountered by young offenders in the conferencing process. It is recommended that in order for young offenders to understand what they have been asked, to reflect on it, to express their thoughts and feelings, and for behavioural change to occur, the communication, both verbal and non-verbal, must be unambiguous, comprehensible and pitched at their individual demographic. More research is required into language use by conference facilitators and its impact on young offenders.     

Police Legitimacy and Citizen Cooperation in China: Testing an Alternative Model

Past research has identified several mechanisms of promoting citizen cooperation with the police, with Tyler’s process-based policing model being one of the most frequently tested frameworks in this line of inquiry. Using data collected from a large sample of residents in a large Chinese city, this study assesses an alternative model of Tyler’s work proposed by Tankebe (2013), positing that police legitimacy, embodied in four aspects of procedural justice, distributive justice, effectiveness, and lawfulness, affects people’s obligation to obey the police, which further influences their cooperation with the police. Results from second-order confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling analysis suggested that Tankebe’s work is supported by the Chinese data. Implications for future research and policy are discussed.     

Permissive Laws and the Dynamism of Kantian Justice

If Kant’s theory of justice is known for one thing, it is for offering a vision of a perfectly just society that is utterly disconnected from the imperfect societies that we occupy. The purity of Kant’s account has attracted criticism from those who claim that if a theory of justice is to be practical, it must offer more than a vision of a perfectly just society. It must also explain how existing societies mired in injustice are to be brought into ever-closer conformity with the ideal that justice prescribes. In this essay, I will argue that this is exactly what Kant’s mature legal and political theory offers. To discern this feature of Kant’s theory, a neglected component must be integrated into his broader framework. This component is what Kant refers to in Toward Perpetual Peace as a permissive law of public right.     

Injustice in School and Students’ Emotions,Well-Being,and Behavior: A Longitudinal study

School can be regarded as an important factor in the development of children’s values and attitudes. Given this great importance of justice experiences for students’ development, this study aimed at examining the influence of perceived injustice in school on students’ emotions, well-being, and behavior with an experimental longitudinal design. In total, 196 students participated in this study and came to the university with their classes to receive extra teaching once a week for six consecutive weeks. To manipulate justice perceptions, a scenario of arbitrary privilege was chosen to lead students of the experimental group to experience injustice from a beneficiary perspective. We found that students in the experimental group reported higher well-being and a higher appreciation of the opportunity to learn than the control group did. Additionally, they showed an increase in justice-related negative emotions over time; that is, they expressed more of a bad conscience and stronger feelings of anger the more they became aware of their privilege. This study shows that even subtle experiences of injustice in school can have an impact on students’ outcomes. These results are discussed with regard to practical implications.     

Respectful Inter-Group Interactions: A Method for Revising Group Attachment?

In the present study, we investigated whether respectful treatment shaped participants’ perceptions of procedural justice during interactions with out-group authorities, and whether the effects of respectful treatment would extend to participants’ attachment to their in-group and to the authority’s social group. We hypothesised that the nature of the relationship between the out-group and a participant’s social group (diametrically opposed vs. not opposed to one another) would moderate the effect of respect on participants’ procedural justice judgements, attachment to the in-group, and attachment to the out-group. Participants (n = 186) read a short, fictitious news story describing an interaction between a fellow in-group member (the subordinate) and an authority. As predicted, respectful treatment increased perceptions of procedural justice and also led participants to feel more attached to the authority’s social group. Contrary to expectation, participants’ attachment to their in-group was not affected by treatment, but instead by authority group membership: interactions with an authority from a social group diametrically opposed to the participant’s social group led participants to become significantly more attached to their in-group, regardless of the authority’s behaviour (respectful vs. disrespectful) in the interaction. Results are discussed in terms of practical strategies for authorities to effectively manage interactions with out-group subordinates.