Justice In Context Research Articles

Intruders in a Balancing Act: Black Economic Empowerment, Transitional Justice and Investment Arbitration Tribunals

Abstract This article examines the role of ad hoc investment arbitration tribunals in arbitrating highly sensitive matters in transitional justice contexts, focusing on disputes arising from black economic empowerment (BEE) policies in countries formerly under racially discriminatory regimes. After an overview of the investment protection system, the article introduces the historical context of BEE policies. It subsequently analyses three main disputes, one against South Africa and two against Zimbabwe, where white concession holders and landowners relied on Bilateral Investment Treaties to claim compensation for the consequences of BEE mining and land redistribution policies. These disputes provide a testing ground to shed light on the role of investment arbitration in the context of transitional justice. The article concludes that such a role essentially amounts to an intrusion in the perilous ‘balancing act’ of managing a transitional justice process.

Artificial Intelligence Models for Crime Prediction in Urban Spaces

This work presents research based on evidence with neural networks for the development of predictive crime models, finding the data sets used are focused on historical crime data, crime classification, types of theft at different scales of space and time, counting crime and conflict points in urban areas. Among some results, 81% precision is observed in the prediction of the Neural Network algorithm and ranges in the prediction of crime occurrence at a space-time point between 75% and 90% using LSTM (Long-ShortSpace-Time). It is also observed in this review, that in the field of justice, systems based on intelligent technologies have been incorporated, to carry out activities such as legal advice, prediction and decisionmaking, national and international cooperation in the fight against crime, police and intelligence services, control systems with facial recognition, search and processing of legal information, predictive surveillance, the definition of criminal models under the criteria of criminal records, history of incidents in different regions of the city, location of the police force, established businesses, etc., that is, they make predictions in the urban context of public security and justice. Finally, the ethical considerations and principles related to predictive developments based on artificial intelligence are presented, which seek to guarantee aspects such as privacy, privacy and the impartiality of the algorithms, as well as avoid the processing of data under biases or distinctions. Therefore, it is concluded that the scenario for the development, research, and operation of predictive crime solutions with neural networks and artificial intelligence in urban contexts, is viable and necessary in Mexico, representing an innovative and effective alternative that contributes to the attention of insecurity, since according to the indices of intentional homicides, the crime rates of organized crime and violence with firearms, according to statistics from INEGI, the Global Peace Index and the Government of Mexico, remain in increase.

‘Cosmopolitan Citizenship’, Territorial Borders, and Bringing Denationalized Terrorists to Justice

Abstract This article challenges scholarly claims that a post-national ‘cosmopolitan citizenship’ — an expanded and less territorially bounded belonging of ‘humanity’ — has been emerging in the international criminal justice context. In examining the contemporary denationalization of terrorists from the under-explored angle of criminal justice, this article argues that states’ territorial borders prevent denationalized terrorists — deemed enemies of ‘humanity’ — from being brought to justice. Some states strip citizenship from terrorists without holding them accountable for terrorist offences and international crimes, subsequently deporting them to — or leaving them stranded in — states which are, according to international criminal law, ‘unable’ or ‘unwilling’ to prosecute. As such, states’ territorial borders serve as a ‘shield’ which not only enable denationalized terrorists to avoid accountability for their terrorist offences and international crimes, but which also enable states to avoid their international obligations to bring terrorists to justice. This case study of denationalized terrorists not only demonstrates the enduring relevance of territoriality to international criminal justice but also broadly demonstrates how post-national ‘citizenship’ remains tied to the territorial state in a globalized world.

Social solidarity as a dimension of transitional justice: the case of Cartography and Identification of Mass Graves in post-conflict Colombia

ABSTRACT The field of transitional justice lacks a comprehensive understanding to the role that social solidarity plays in transitional justice contexts. There is a lack of knowledge of the means through which victims can exercise their social agency to explore mechanisms of reparation beyond truth commissions, tribunals, and trials. This article argues that social solidarity is a crucial dimension and a novel perspective from which to develop transitional justice processes from a victims’ point of view in post-conflict societies. Employing a participative action research method, this article’s importance rests in the idea that Colombian victims’ groups from Eastern Antioquia view social solidarity as a crucial dimension of transitional justice in developing the project Cartography and Identification of Mass Graves. It establishes that this effort is a powerful novel mechanism to claim justice, reparation, recognition, and guarantees of non-recurrence from an unofficial angle. It demonstrates that comprehending social solidarity as a vital dimension of transitional justice stresses the importance of victims’ social agency to conduct collaborative collective actions in order to support inclusive processes of disarmament, demobilisation, and reintegration (DDR) beyond official agendas and narratives.

Transition for System-Involved Youth with Disabilities: Law, Compliance, and Support

For youth with disabilities within the juvenile justice system, transition is multifaceted and can constitute movement from facility to facility or education placement to placement. However, within a juvenile justice context, transition is also a legal term of art that derives from a set of interrelated laws, policies, and procedures that guide juvenile justice system professionals’ transition practices and serves as a foundation for service delivery and associated youth outcomes. For youth with emotional disturbance (ED) or related conditions, transition also incorporates the process of migrating mental or behavioral health treatment or supports upon reentry. However, youth support during all facets of transition (e.g., compliance with legal transition mandates, placement, service continuity) is often insufficient to help youth transition successfully. Related to this, juvenile justice system professionals often struggle to use law and policy to guide their pre- and postrelease transition planning across education, mental and behavioral health, employment, and mentoring supports. Using a legal compliance focal point theoretical perspective, this article first explores the relevant legal provisions that address prerelease transition supports for youth with disabilities within the juvenile justice system. It then offers suggestions for building a framework to bridge the gap between legal compliance and transition support across the pre- and postrelease transition spectrum.

A Missing Link? Capabilities, the Ethics of Care and the Relational Context of Energy Justice

ABSTRACT Difficulties experienced in obtaining energy services have been represented as unjust because of how they can prevent people from realising primary human capabilities. Capabilities are relational, being embedded within complex interdependencies between people and socio-material systems. These complexities can cause problems for approaches to energy justice that are based on concepts of welfare rights. We argue that the ethics of care, with its emphasis on relationality as the ground of obligation, and particularly on how social relationships are bound up with power and responsibility, can provide firmer foundations for thinking about energy injustice. Care ethicists distinguish between different forms of dependency, some necessary, others oppressive. Using qualitative longitudinal methods to explore people’s experiences of energy challenges and energy vulnerability can show how power and responsibility within dependency relationships can change over time. With data from a longitudinal study in South Wales, we explore how everyday energy-using practices can become entangled with harmful forms of dependency. We show how the everyday ethical evaluation of these relationship undertaken by participants harmonises with the ethics of care. Our data show the utility of understanding relationships of dependence within the energy system in terms of responsibility and irresponsibility, in order to better understand energy injustice.

Trickle down Registration: Exploring the Lived Experiences of Partners of Persons Registered as a Sexual Offender

ABSTRACT Accessing stigmatized persons for research purposes can be difficult, and accessing their significant others is perhaps even more challenging. We present here our defining moments of recruiting and surveying partners of persons registered as sexual offenders for our research on courtesy stigma. The challenges and successes of our journey are described within the larger hypothesis that close relationships are an important source of social support associated with adjustment and well-being outcomes for people involved in the justice system as well as their families. Ultimately, we suggest our reflections will not only encourage other researchers to seek the input of hard-to-reach populations in justice, health, and policy contexts, but also to incorporate the experiences of underrepresented voices, elucidate findings and lessons learned from these unique populations, and engage in reflexive health communication and research strategies with highly stigmatized populations.

Bargaining for the disappeared? Rewarding perpetrators in transitional justice contexts

Journal of Social PhilosophyVolume 53, Issue 2 p. 273-288 ORIGINAL ARTICLE Bargaining for the disappeared? Rewarding perpetrators in transitional justice contexts Juan Espindola, Corresponding Author Juan Espindola juanespindola@comunidad.unam.mx orcid.org/0000-0001-8681-9284 Institute for Philosophical Research, National Autonomous University of Mexico, Coyoacan, Mexico Correspondence Juan Espindola, Institute for Philosophical Research, National Autonomous University of Mexico, Coyoacan, Mexico. Email: juanespindola@comunidad.unam.mxSearch for more papers by this author Juan Espindola, Corresponding Author Juan Espindola juanespindola@comunidad.unam.mx orcid.org/0000-0001-8681-9284 Institute for Philosophical Research, National Autonomous University of Mexico, Coyoacan, Mexico Correspondence Juan Espindola, Institute for Philosophical Research, National Autonomous University of Mexico, Coyoacan, Mexico. Email: juanespindola@comunidad.unam.mxSearch for more papers by this author First published: 15 February 2021 https://doi.org/10.1111/josp.12400Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Volume53, Issue2Summer 2022Pages 273-288 RelatedInformation

Evidence-Driven Approach for Assessing Social Vulnerability and Equality During Extreme Climatic Events

Climate change adaptation policy requires assessing a community's vulnerability based on its socio-economic characteristics. A predominant approach to vulnerability assessment is indicator-based, wherein variables are aggregated to assess the vulnerability of units in a system (e.g., neighborhoods in a city). Here we show that a particular evidence-based predictive statistics approach can address two shortcomings of the most commonly-used indicator-based approach: lack of a means of validation and problematic weighting of individual indicators. We demonstrate how robust evidence-based models can produce frameworks that overcome these limitations. Using the case study of Hurricane Sandy in the State of New Jersey, we conducted two-pronged validated vulnerability assessments, based on insurance claim payouts and assistance grants. The latter needs-based assessment shows that “Minorities” are substantially more vulnerable than others based on a significant negative association with assistance approval rate (approved claims divided by all claims). Our findings highlight issues discussed in the literature within the context of climate justice and equity. Such an approach is helpful locally, but also when adaptation plans are developed over broad scales of time and space considering disparities between regions or across multiple jurisdictions.

Exposure to victim portrayals: the role of multiple emotions in influencing collective action intentions for environmental justice

Environmental justice is a complex issue requiring joint efforts from various actors, including collective action from the general public. Echoing an urgent call for greater attention to environmental justice in the field of environmental communication, the current research examined one possible way to motivate collective action for environmental justice, that is, via the portrayals of victims and the emotions the portrayals convey. An experiment with a 2 (victim’s photo: presence vs. absence) × 2 (industry’s intent: presence vs. absence) between-subjects factorial design was conducted. The results show that emotions, including moral outrage, compassion, and distress, mediated the effects of the photo condition on collective action intentions. These findings contribute to the literature by connecting victim portrayals with collective action, expanding the array of message-induced emotions in predicting collective action, and furthering the investigation of collective action in the environmental justice context.

NGO influence in global governance: achieving transitional justice in Uganda and beyond

This paper looks at the interface between non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and international criminal justice, within the broader context of transitional justice (TJ). The unique case of Northern Uganda is used as an example to illustrate the role of NGOs in global governance. Due to the growing demand for criminal accountability as a form of TJ, the paper makes a qualitative assessment of NGO relationships at domestic and global levels. It illustrates how NGOs contribute to the legitimisation of global norms and criminal accountability for international crimes. It reveals an organisational articulation of international criminal justice using victims’ rights discourses and interventions. It is shown that international NGOs assert a form of sociological legitimacy in support of the International Criminal Court. The paper concludes that there is still a compelling case to be made for the involvement of NGOs in global governance. The impact of this research serves to invite further reflection on the work of NGOs, uncovering their critical role in the domestic implementation of global norms within the context of TJ.

Voices of Water and Violence: Exhibition Making and the Blue Humanities for Transitional Justice

AbstractThis article examines how the relationships between water and violence are represented as objects for public museum exhibitions in order to guarantee symbolic reparations in a transitional justice context. Using the 2018–2019 exhibition Voces para transformar a Colombia, we show that considering a non‐human element such as water in this context requires a methodological reflection about how to expand the notion of victimhood to include nature. After decades of armed conflict, the Colombian government initiated a transitional justice process which led to the creation of the Museum of Memory as a setting for post‐conflict reconciliation. This museum‐pilot exhibition approached violence and resistance in the armed conflict through three main axes: land, water, and the human body. Unlike land and the body, water has played only a marginal role in the public understanding of the armed conflict. The article analyzes the curatorial process underlying the creation of the Water axis of this exhibition. In light of this exhibition, we propose a reflection on what Nicholas Thomas calls “the museum as a method,” which involves three specific moments: discovery, captioning, and juxtaposition. We suggest a fourth moment, ramification, whereby the exhibition branches off through alliances with communities and scholars, and technologies that geographically decenter the museum. The water axis allows for a broader reflection about violence and the environment in which science and the arts come together to create citizens' engagement with justice and ecological crisis. From this perspective, the analysis of the water axis advances the burgeoning field of the blue humanities.

Border-crossing repertoires of contention: Palestine activism in a global justice context

ABSTRACT On 7 July 2005, a global call for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) was declared against the state of Israel until it abides by international law and principles of human rights. Since that time, BDS has become a popular form of collective action for Palestine. Expanding on Charles Tilly’s original conceptualization of contentious repertoires, this paper argues that BDS advances the issue of Palestine into broader progressive frameworks, such as global justice, through the ways the movement makes claims (repertoire) and the object of its claims (targets). In particular, there are intersections through frames of justice, corporate complicity, and human rights, tactics of boycott and divestment, and decentralized, horizontal, and networked organizational forms, along with similar targets. These parallel repertoires and targets create a bridge between groups, which allows BDS to build its movement and enables the movement to move forward the Palestinian cause into broader global justice contexts.

Can I Get a Witness? Speculative Fiction as Testimony and Counterstory

Drawing on Black feminist/womanist storytelling and the three-dimensional narrative inquiry space, this article showcases how one Black girl uses speculative fiction as testimony and counterstory, calling for readers to bear witness to her experiences and inviting witnesses to respond to the negative experiences she faces as a Black girl in the United States. I argue that situating speculative fiction as counterstory creates space for Black girls to challenge dominant narratives and create new realities. Furthermore, I argue that considering speculative fiction as testimony provides another way for readers to engage in a dialogic process with Black girls, affirming their words as legitimate sources of knowledge. Witnessing Black girls’ stories is an essential component to literacy and social justice contexts that tout a humanizing approach to research. They are also vital for dismantling a system bent on the castigation and obliteration of Black girls’ pasts, presents, and futures.

The Development of a Prison Mental Health Unit in England: Understanding Realist Context(s)

A pragmatic solution for the provision of care for prisoners with serious mental illness, who are often subject to delays in hospital transfer, is the creation of specialist prison units. This paper analyses the development of a prison unit in England for prisoners with ‘serious mental illness’. The unit was developed within over-lapping health and justice contexts, including expectations, pressures and priorities, which impacted on the outcomes expected and achieved. The methodology included attendance at Steering group meetings, analysis of a minimum dataset, and interviews with key stakeholders. A number of key sites of contestation are analyzed including: admission criteria; aims; activities; staffing; the physical environment; and discharge.

Re-thinking memory and transitional justice: A novel application of ecological memory

While transitional justice processes call upon individuals and societies to recall and remember, memory practices – and more specifically the frequent politicisation of memory in transitional societies – can undermine transitional justice goals, including peace and reconciliation. This interdisciplinary article seeks to re-think the relationship between transitional justice and memory. It does so by introducing the concept of ecological memory, a supra-political form of memory centred on complex ecosystem responses to disturbance events and the development of resilience to future shocks and stressors. Transposing the concept of ecological memory to the novel context of transitional justice can ultimately foster a new alignment between memory and transitional justice that is more conducive to the realisation of the latter’s core goals. Drawing on empirical data, the article seeks to demonstrate that transitional justice processes can contribute to fostering ecological memory by giving attention to the ecological legacies of war crimes and human rights violations.

323 - I’d prefer to stay at home but I don’t have a choice’: Irish social workers’ experiences of decision-making in care planning with older people with dementia

This paper is based on a collaborative research study undertaken by the Irish Association of Social Workers, Age Action Ireland, The Alzheimer Society of Ireland and the School of Social policy, Social Work and Social Justice, University College Dublin. The study explored the experiences and views of social workers working with older people, including people with dementia. The purpose of the study was to investigate how the health and social care system in Ireland was responding to the care needs, required supports and preferences of older people. This paper will mainly focus on reported experiences related to older people with dementia in decision-making about their care.Data collection included a mixed method approach, that is, (i) an on-line survey of social workers across Ireland reporting on their open caseload over a period of one month (N = 38)) and (ii) semi-structured telephone interviews with social workers (N = 21).The Quantitative data was analysed using SPSS statistical software to produce descriptive and bivariate results. For the qualitative data an iterative data reduction process was used.Findings echoed that of other Irish research demonstrating (i) that the preference of older people is to remain living at home and receiving care in this setting as needed, and (ii) that this preference is not being realized. The study further highlighted variations in participation levels of people with dementia in the decision-making process, the barriers to participation and the place of family relationships in the decision-making process. The study made recommendations as to how to address these issues. The findings will also be considered within the context of social justice for older people.

Drawing lessons from early school leavers in a social justice context: Introductory comments

This special issue focuses on the trajectories of early school leavers and includes corresponding papers from six countries in Europe. It presents a cross-national view on interrelated issues that facilitate understanding of the lessons that can be learned from these trajectories to promote a more socially just approach to education. In this introductory article, the authors present early school leaving (ESL) as a key issue in Europe, discuss relevant good practices and set the scene for an analysis of education as a matter of social justice and human rights – one which requires, above all, the prevention of educational poverty.

Criminalization and capture strategies in the HIV/AIDS assemblage.

This study aims to ask how HIV/AIDS is arranged as a public threat in and through Canadian law, particularly in relation to transmission, and how strategies of capture extend the affective force of criminalization leading to poor health outcomes for persons living with HIV/AIDS. This is a conceptual paper with a focus on applying affect theorist Jasbir Puar's work on assemblage and debility. The authors use Puar's work to frame the conditions that persons with HIV/AIDS experience in the Canadian criminal justice context as debilitating. The authors found that while HIV transmission is not itself a criminal act in the Canadian criminal justice context, activities where transmission is prevalent or possible have been criminalized, particularly in relation to nondisclosure of health status, sex work and substance use. Further, the authors found that when the activities associated with HIV transmission are criminalized, strategies of capture extend the affective force of criminalization first in the inadequate provision of health-care and pharma-care services, second in state resistance to implement harm reduction measure and third in punitive population management strategies. Persons living with HIV/AIDS have historically experienced stigmatization, especially intersecting with neoliberal, white supremacist and heteropatriarchal axes of power. This paper uses assemblage theory to shore up how these relations operate in ways that close off possibilities, by constituting the HIV/AIDS assemblage as a criminal - rather than a health phenomenon. This paper, thus, holds Canada to account for debilitating a historically disadvantaged and multiplying marginalized population.

Angry Women and Empathic Men: How Individuals "Do Gender" in a Criminal Justice Context Through Conformity or Resistance to Gendered Feeling Rules

Studies on gender differences in public punitiveness show that women generally hold less punitive attitudes toward offenders than men. The reverse is true, however, when it comes to ‘back-end’ criminal justice processes, like parole, that involve the early release of prisoners. With evidence to suggest that differing emotional responses may help to explain gender gaps like these, this study draws on the concepts of gendered feeling rules and emotion management, together with the notion of gender as a performance, to explore how men and women enact their gendered identity through emotion in a criminal justice context. The findings highlight the salience of emotions like fear, anger, and empathy to gender differences in public support for parole. Further, they show that while both men and women perform gender by conforming to gendered emotion expectations, they also resist traditional emotion norms.