Introduction

Abstract

Abstract What is the connection between social justice and criminal justice? The terms “social justice” and “criminal justice” are themselves so contested that one must pause, before considering the relationship between them, to think carefully about what they mean. Each term can be said to pose a question. In speaking of social justice, one asks about the requisites of a justly constituted society; in speaking of criminal justice, one asks about the basis of just punishment. Given everyday usage, though, each term can also be said to provide an answer to the question it poses. References to social justice usually include an assumption that a society can be just only if it has undertaken redistributive steps to insure fairness in wealth holdings--if not equality in holdings, then at least satisfaction of its members’ basic needs. References to criminal justice tend to be based on the assumption that punishment can be just only if it is based on retributive principles. These specific conceptions of social and criminal justice are, of course, open to challenge.