McCulloch, Jude --- "Crime, Justice and Human Rights by Leanne Weber, Elaine Fishwick and Marinella Marmo" [2016] CICrimJust 8; (2016) 27(3) Current Issues in Criminal Justice 349

• References

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Review

Crime, Justice and Human Rights by Leanne Weber, Elaine Fishwick and Marinella Marmo, Palgrave Macmillan, 2014, 264 pp

(ISBN 9781137299192)

Jude McCulloch^[*]

Crime, Justice and Human Rights aims ‘to build a bridge between the knowledge domains of criminology and human rights’ (p 1). It is dedicated to the memory of Stanley Cohen (1942–2013), a criminology luminary at the forefront of opening criminology to human rights thinking. In 1992, Cohen spoke in Australia about the research project that led to his landmark States of Denial (2002) a decade later, declaring, ‘I have gradually moved during the past decade from “doing” criminology to “doing” human rights’. He said that, ‘when I was invited to give this lecture, my first thought was that I had nothing much to say to a criminological audience. On second thoughts, it seemed to me that the ways these fields have diverged despite their common grounds seemed worthy of attention’ (Cohen 1993:97). Today the connection between criminology and human rights seems more obvious, although, as the authors state, ‘[d]espite the clear relevance of human rights to crime and criminal justice, criminologists have been slow to apply human rights concepts to their work’ (p 72). They argue that the critical study of human rights is ‘an essential element of contemporary criminological inquiry’ (p 1). The book identifies key themes within criminology that ‘illustrate the increasing relevance of human rights as a discursive tool and analytical framework for the discipline’ (p 229) and usefully reviews the criminological record in applying human rights concepts (pp 72–88).

Since the late 1990s, unprecedented attention has been focused on the global expansion of human rights ideals. As the authors point out, human rights are inescapably controversial. On the one hand, human rights ‘can provide the language and concepts to ask critical questions about the harms, benefits and limits of state action and inaction’ (p 1). On the other hand, more frequent reference to human rights in the policies and manuals of criminal justice organisations does not necessarily translate into greater respect for human rights (see, for example, Bayley 2015:541). Reference to human rights can be tokenistic and may lend unwarranted legitimacy to practices inimical to the realisation of substantive human rights (see, for example, Bullock and Johnson 2012:630).

This title will be of interest to criminologists and advanced students of criminology. It focuses on ‘everyday criminology’ as practised in advanced democracies in an attempt to locate human rights ‘within more well-trodden criminological territory’ and to ‘illuminate some of the connections between domestic criminology and the international human rights arena’ (p 2). The authors describe their approach as both circumspect and hopeful. While the promise of human rights is recognised, this is balanced throughout with a focus on the pitfalls of a naive or unreflective conflation of human rights practice with human rights law or human rights talk. Every chapter acknowledges the gap between the rhetoric of human rights and the reality of continuing human rights abuses in the context of entrenched injustice.

The book is divided into three sections, each preceded by a brief overview of the section’s content. A list of key concepts and emblematic examples of the relevant concepts, topics or controversies precedes, and references and reading lists close, each chapter. The first section, ‘Understanding Human Rights’, provides a broad, multidisciplinary introduction to human rights concepts, law and practice, including chapters on the origin and ideas of human rights, international human rights law, human rights and civil society, collective rights and discrimination, and integrating criminology and human rights. The second, ‘Applying Human Rights to Criminology’, applies ‘human rights thinking’ in chapters on criminal law, crime prevention, policing, criminal courts, detention, juvenile justice, and victims. The book’s final section, ‘A Criminology for Human Rights’, considers future directions, arguing that ‘[w]hile criminologists ... may hold vastly different views about the value and validity of human rights law and thinking, there is space within the discipline for engagement with human rights at a range of levels’ (p 235).

Written in a clear, direct style, Crime, Justice and Human Rights makes an important, original and overdue contribution to the discipline by providing an accessible, comprehensive and finely nuanced overview of the law, philosophy, concept, practice and politics of human rights in crime and criminal justice. It reminds us of the salience of human rights to the field of criminology and provides an analytical framework to bring to bear on research. The book is essential reading for those who wish to produce and engage in a criminology that accords primacy to the wellbeing of all individuals and the social groups to which they belong.

References

Bayley D (2015) ‘Human Rights in Policing: A Global Assessment’, Policing and Society 25(5),

540–7

Bullock K and Johnson P (2012) ‘The Impact of the Human Rights Act 1998 on Policing in England and Wales’, British Journal of Criminology 52(3), 630–50

Cohen S (1993) ‘Human Rights and Crimes of the State: The Culture of Denial’, Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology 26(2), 97–115

Cohen S (2002) States of Denial: Knowing about Atrocities and Suffering, John Wiley & Sons

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^[*] Professor of Criminology, School of Social Sciences, Monash University, 20 Chancellor’s Way, Clayton Vic 3800 Australia. Email:[e-mail].