Leanne Weber,Elaine Fishwick and Marinella Marmo,Crime,justice and human rights

Reviewed by: Elizabeth Stanley, Institute of Criminology, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand

The criminological attention to human rights has been precarious. Despite human rights being ‘the normative language’ of our time (Cohen, 1993, p. 99), most disciplinary literature make no attempt to engage in the debate. At the same time, critical criminology research is regularly imbued with concerns for rights, social justice, and humanity. One major contribution of this critical work has been to clarify how human rights violations occur. Researchers have demonstrated how violations like torture operate best within bureaucratic, hierarchical organizations in which labor is specialized (Huggins, 2010). They have shown how multinationals intersect with state actors to produce ‘profitable’ but devastating harms on a massive scale (Lasslett, 2014) and how contemporary border controls funnel desperate populations into hopeless situations: a life as a criminal, or – often – no life at all (Weber & Pickering, 2011). And, they have exemplified how political and social strategies of denial set the stage for the overt support or acceptance of violations (Cohen, 2001). The contribution of human rights to our discipline is clear. It has provoked some scholars, such as the late Barbara Hudson (2003, p. 222), to argue for the centralization of rights thinking, especially as those who we study can be socially devalued, and are often “beyond our empathy and beyond our recognition as fellow-citizens.”

The purpose of Crime, Justice and Human Rights is to “build bridges between the knowledge domains of criminology and human rights” (p. 1). It is a unique contribution. Section One provides a useful “nuts and bolts” overview of human rights concepts, including their philosophical foundations, international rights law, collective rights and the role of civil society in supporting or eroding rights cultures. Section Two explores the ways in which rights have been, or might be, applied. These chapters focus upon the mainstream spheres of law, crime prevention, victim support, policing, courts, youth justice and prisons. The book ends with Section Three, a single chapter that considers how criminology might further engage with rights on our door-step and abroad. If you are interested in teaching in these areas, this book will be a great companion – it is accessible, well written and thought-provoking.

Through case studies, the book exemplifies how human rights are eroded. Managed representations of identities and ideas are particularly important here. Support for human rights can be struck down in a heartbeat: powerful violators enjoy impunity when they hold strategic capital; victims are seen to deserve their violation when they are deemed to be “lesser”; humane treatment is trumped when calls for control, security, risk, nationalism and managerialism become louder. The latter concepts are so powerful that human rights are eroded on preemptive whims or racist assumptions. The criminal justice sphere has been a willing accomplice. Within policing, for example, violations have been legitimized on the grounds of zero tolerance, intelligence, public order, security, terrorism and community (pp. 134–138). Most of this is undertaken without any evidence that it makes anyone safer.

The diminution of rights can emerge at particular historical junctures – especially when perceived threats are mobilized in such a way that violations are popularly supported and even expected. At the same time, other systematic violations go unnoticed or unchallenged within justice systems as they are routinised. The racist discrimination exemplified through stops and searches and indigenous over-imprisonment is one example (pp. 58–67). Another is the attribution of fixed, homogenous identities for prisoners (e.g. dangerous, evil, predatory) that justify their negative treatment.

The book also advances thinking about how we respond to human rights violations. In particular, it raises concerns that our main protective forces, such as the law or the United Nations, can do more harm than good. The United Nations undoubtedly raise the banner for human rights but the UN-supported “war on drugs” has done little to affirm rights-based values within criminal justice (pp. 120–123). Meanwhile, while courts champion human rights, legal process undermines these rights on a daily basis. Legal language, exclusionary court processes, discrimination, cultural silencing, the limits of legal aid and political interference are just some of the contributions from this crucial bastion of protection against state excess and violence (pp. 150–160).

The book reminds us, too, how even the most progressive reforms can do more harm than good. The increased incarceration of women, under the guise of “protection” or “rehabilitation” is a case in point. Women’s needs are re-designated as risks (p. 183) and prison is legitimized as a source of comfort and welfare. While incarceration is redefined as a rights-conscious response to a brutal world, the realities for female prisoners tell a different story (Carlton & Segrave, 2013; Moore & Scraton, 2013).

Before we all get too depressed, we are challenged to reflect upon how human rights can be engaged within criminal justice. There is an optimistic, hopeful undertone. Within the confines of the current system, the authors note progressive advances, such as the building of children’s rights within some European criminal justice systems (p. 204), the consolidation of restorative approaches to crime (p. 160), or the aspirations of justice reinvestment strategies (pp. 233–234). Beyond these boundaries, they reflect upon the value of civil society movements as an antidote to the complicated administration of monitoring and reporting on rights. They argue that civil society groups and non-governmental organizations can monitor standards, campaign and educate around rights in powerful ways; they can “create new lines of accountability … and promote the bottom-up development of a human rights culture on a global level” (p. 46). These reminders of the possibilities of social justice and humanity are useful, for all readers.