Justice Organizations Research Articles

Development for whom?: an Indigenous environmental justice movement in Bangladesh

ABSTRACT Indigenous peoples around the world tend to be disproportionately affected by resource extraction activities having access to fewer technical, legal and other resources to participate effectively in the decision-making process. Taking a resistance movement concerning the Phulbari Coal Project in Bangladesh, through qualitative research, this paper examines how Indigenous peoples frame their claims in a mining conflict situation. The Phulbari resistance movement took place more than a decade ago in Bangladesh, however, local Indigenous peoples, Bangalee farming communities, and activists still bear the spirit of the movement. As such, this study seeks to test the claims of how the Indigenous and farming communities, and the actions of national and transnational environmental justice organisations in the Phulbari resistance movement form part of an environmental justice movement. The paper argues that various components of Indigenous resistance and claims may contribute to the overall goals of the environment justice movement against powerful transnational corporations in the global South.

"Show them how they treat us": Legal violence in the everyday lives of street vendors.

Since the 1930s, street vending in Los Angeles has been classified as a misdemeanor, punishable by jail time and fines. The Los Angeles Street Vendor Campaign (LASVC)—a coalition of Brown and Black street vendors and social justice organizations—succeeded in decriminalizing street vending. Drawing on data collected from 2013 to 2020 and utilizing ethnographic and digital humanities methods, this paper spotlights fifteen Black and Brown street-vendor leaders of the LASVC. Combined street-vendor leader narratives reveal how laws and enforcement practices undermined their ability to stay free, remain housed, and keep families and vending communities together. This paper differentiates between state-sanctioned legal violence, which led to dispossession and family separation, and community-sanctioned legal violence to demonstrate how laws that criminalize street vendors make them targets for other forms of violence, namely surveillance by co-ethnics. Legal violence often occurs simultaneously and cumulatively adds extra levels of precarity for street vendors.

Researching inside police custody in four jurisdictions: ‘Getting in’, ‘getting on’, ‘getting your hands dirty’ and ‘getting through it’

As a unique criminal justice organisation, the police present challenges, but also opportunities for those who research them. These are examined, in terms of getting in, getting on, getting your hands dirty and getting through it, using data collected as part of a comparative multi-method study of police custody in large cities in Australia, England, Ireland and the United States in 2007 and 2009. As this research took place on the cusp of the proliferation of research with the police, retrospective examination of field notes is used to reflect on how the research process is influenced not just by one’s social origins but also by the culture of academia and the politics of knowledge production. It is argued that while research with the police is becoming the norm, research on the police is still of value as part of a diverse police research agenda.

Using social network analysis as a tool in action research.

The following paper presents case examples of one research team's use of social network analysis (SNA) with three different collaboratives in South Florida: (a) a Collective Impact initiative seeking to end youth homelessness, (b) a university collaborative of campus organizations working towards Black students' concerns, and (c) a movement network of local social justice organizations. The research team used SNA to assess the level of connectivity of three different community coalitions. While research questions were slightly different for each collaborative, each project asked about the frequency of communication between organizations to determine connectivity. Results vary between case examples. Both the Youth Homeless Collaboration and the Black Student Association used Gephi to analyze results, while The Community Partnership used R to measure network centrality. The paper concludes with a general discussion of challenges related to using SNA as an action research tool, as well as the role of power in organizational networks.

Just an ‘optional extra’ in the ‘victim toolkit’?: The culture, mechanisms and approaches of criminal justice organisations delivering restorative justice in England and Wales

Despite policy and guidance stating that all victims of crime should have ‘equal access’ to restorative justice in England and Wales, victim participation remains low. Here, the ways in which criminal justice agents – responsible for providing victim services, including restorative justice – offer restorative justice to victims are explored. Drawing upon empirical data collected from criminal justice organisations in two police force areas, this article outlines what factors lie behind the inconsistencies found across police forces in terms of structure and delivery of restorative justice. Work pressures, differing views of the suitability or effectiveness of restorative justice and a lack of systematic guidance that underpins the work culture of criminal justice organisations all impede victims’ access to restorative justice. This paper concludes with recommendations for embedding a culture of restorative justice within criminal justice organisations based upon the principles of inclusivity and engagement.

Environmental justice organizations and the diffusion of conflicts over mining in Latin America

Existing research has explored the factors affecting the likelihood of resistance to mining projects. These studies emphasize the geographic and firm-level characteristics of mining sites as well as the impact of these projects on the environment and community livelihoods. While making important contributions, the existing literature has failed to examine the contagion effects of conflicts over mining. Building on the literature on the diffusion of social movements, we argue that environmental justice organizations (EJOs) help diffuse mining conflicts through interpersonal networks involving individuals or organizations, organizational brokers as well as communication strategies through the mass media. Our spatial econometric analysis demonstrates that mining conflicts cluster in time and space and that EJO networks are the primary drivers of diffusion. The diffusion effects associated with EJOs help our understanding of local resistance to mining and represent an important pattern explaining the expansion of social conflicts in Latin America.

JUSTIÇA RESTAURATIVA PARANAENSE E A COVID-19: A TRANSFORMAÇÃO DAS PRÁTICAS NO PODER JUDICIÁRIO EM 2020/2021

The present research, through a systematic documentary analysis, aims to identify and point out the changes that impacted the restorative justice practices in the State of Paraná, before the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic in the period from 2020 to 2021. For this, based on bibliographic and documentary research, a brief exposition of the organization of restorative justice in Brazil and in the State of Paraná was presented in order to contextualize the transformations that have occurred in this context, as well as to indicate the guidelines found for the adequate provision of this service in a virtual way. Therefore, based on the results found, it was possible to verify the challenging and, at the same time, innovative dimension that the virtual environment has provided to the jurisdictional and judicial staff of Paraná.

Evaluating the impact of a social medicine course delivered in a local‐global context: A 10‐year multi‐site analysis

AbstractAmidst the COVID‐19 pandemic and social uprisings demanding social and racial equity worldwide, there is an increasing demand for health justice training for health workers. However, there are scant evidence‐based assessments of the impact of such courses. Between 2010 and 2020, SocMed—a 501(c)3 non‐profit social justice organization—offered two distinct courses about health equity, the social determinants of health, and social medicine to health workers through the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minnesota and Saint Mary Hospital Lacor in Gulu, Uganda. This study assesses the immediate impact of the SocMed curriculum on participants measured by a pre‐course and post‐course survey. In Minnesota, paired pre‐course and post‐course survey responses (mean n = 69; SD = 23) spanned years 2016–2019, while Uganda paired pre‐course and post‐course survey responses (mean n = 64; SD = 21) spanned years 2012–2013 and 2017–2019. Findings indicate that the course improved participants’ knowledge in all 24 of the topics in the Minnesota course and 42 of 44 topics in the Uganda course (significant at p < 0.05).

Racism Runs Through It: Examining The Sexual And Reproductive Health Experience Of Black Women In The South.

Few studies have illustrated how racism influences Black women's use of reproductive health care services. This article presents findings of a collaborative study conducted by a research team and a reproductive justice organization to understand Black women's concerns with sexual and reproductive health services. The qualitative research was conducted with Black women living in Georgia and North Carolina, using a community-based participatory research approach. Themes were developed from participant accounts that highlight how racism, both structural and individual, influenced their reproductive health care access, utilization, and experience. Structural racism affected participants' finances and led some to forgo care or face barriers to obtaining care. Individual racism resulted in some women electing to receive care only from same-race medical providers. These findings suggest a need for policies and practices that address structural barriers to reproductive health care access and improve the reproductive health experience of Black women.

Эволюция статуса органов конституционного правосудия в Кыргызской Республике

The article analyzes the main trends and features inherent in the evolution of the status of constitutional justice bodies in the Kyrgyz Republic. The aim of this research is to identify both the common features characteristic of this process in the countries existing in the post-Soviet space and the specific ones due to the peculiarities of the state and legal development of Kyrgyzstan. In the course of the research, a comparative legal method was used to analyze individual elements of the legal status of the Constitutional Court and the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Kyrgyzstan (organization, competence, status of judges, legal force of decisions, etc.) in accordance with the constitutions of the Kyrgyz Republic of 1993, 2010, and 2021, the laws in force that regulated the organization and procedure for the implementation of constitutional justice, as well as when compared with the development of this institution in the Russian Federation and other CIS member states. In addition, analytical, formal legal and other methods were used, which made it possible to formulate the main conclusions. Based on a systems analysis of the legislation of the Kyrgyz Republic on constitutional justice, decisions of the Constitutional Court and the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Kyrgyzstan, a study of the works of leading Russian (N.V. Vitruk, A.A. Klishas, I.A.Kravets, M.A. Mityukov, et al.) and Kyrgyz (A.A. Arabaev, B.I. Borubashov, R.M. Myrzalimov, B.T. Toktobaev, et al.) scientists in this field, the main tasks to improve the organization and implementation of constitutional justice in Kyrgyzstan were identified. These include: consistent strengthening of the independence of the Constitutional Court from other public authorities; a more detailed delineation of the powers of the Constitutional Court and other courts related to normative control, taking into account the processes of the formation of administrative justice; a more detailed regulation of the procedures of constitutional proceedings, including procedural differentiation of the procedure for exercising various powers of the Constitutional Court, modification of the norms on the legal force, and the procedure for the execution of its acts, including recognition of a certain discretion of the Court in determining measures necessary for the implementation of its decisions; improving the procedures for written proceedings and expanding the further use of information and communication technologies in constitutional proceedings, etc. The implementation of these tasks should be associated with general measures to increase the level of political and legal culture in society.

Humanization of the process of raising minors in the Russian Empire shelters: historical and cultural analysis

The article discusses the problem of reforming criminal legislation in relation to juvenile offenders in the Russian Empire in the late XIX-early XX centuries. At that time, among the "judges of justice", who were based on ideas of humanity, values of a child’s personality, protection of his or her rights, the idea of changing the existing criminal legislation in relation to the child offender arose. One of the key issues in the article is consideration of the justification of the terms of staying children in correctional institutions. In order to ensure the rehabilitation of juvenile offenders in colonies-shelters, the authorities of the country attempted to amend some legislative acts. This had a great impact on the organization of juvenile justice, reflected in the practical activities of educational and correctional institutions of the Russian Empire in the late XIX-early XX centuries. The innovations in the criminal legislation became a big step towards the humanization of the process of raising delinquent children in pre-revolutionary asylum colonies. That was the first time that a child was considered not as an object, but as a subject of the pedagogical process, an individual with rights. The activities of educational and correctional institutions ceased to be punitive and were directed towards human treatment of children.

Archiving Feminist Truth in Trump’s Wake of Lies

This article is about an assignment I do in one of my Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies social movement classes. I revised the assignment the first time teaching the class after Trump lost the 2020 election. For the assignment, students work in groups to research local feminist and gender justice organizations and deposit all of their original materials – recordings, photos, flyers, etc. – into a digital, open access archive I co-created several years ago with librarians and staff on my campus. In 2021 I had my students do the “post-Trump” edition where they researched local organizations about how their activism was shaped by Trump’s policies and rhetoric. This paper is about the archive and assignment writ-large, the importance of feminist knowledge production, and the place of feminists in the academy in challenging the wake of lies spread by the Trump administration.

Towards an understanding of corporate (dis)engagement with social justice advocacy

If it can be argued that companies should engage with social justice advocacy, what factors might deter them from doing so? This question is pursued in a qualitative research study with participants from corporate and social justice organisations. Six inhibiting factors are identified: a lack of understanding of social justice concepts; fear of reputational risk; short-term profit orientation; a compliance mindset; disconnectedness from operating environment; and recognition that business purpose will determine its societal engagement. This research extends the theoretical and practice boundaries of corporate social responsibility, while also advocating for an intensified engagement of management education with social justice in practice.

Looking back, looking forward

The Earth to Tables Legacies Project emerged in 2015, growing out of personal relationships, but also built on a long trajectory of participatory research, multimedia arts production and popular education. We created an intergenerational and intercultural exchange of food activists working for food justice and food sovereignty with the initial goal of producing a feature length documentary. However, the project evolved over five years to culminate in a multimedia educational package with 10 short videos and 11 photo essays, all accompanied by facilitator’s guides. A web series on the pandemic is in production and a forthcoming book is to be published in 2021.
 
 The intergenerational production team included Deborah Barndt (co-director and co-editor), Lauren Baker (co-editor) and Alexandra Gelis (co-director). In this ‘report from the field,’ the two co-directors Alexandra and Deborah look back on the process of co-producing the visual materials for the interactive website and look forward to its potential use in university classes, schools, and social and environmental justice organizations. Parts of the essay include our zoom dialogue as we revisit our process over the past five years and try to elucidate our way of working, while reflecting on the challenges of the collaborative production and use of multimedia educational tools.
 
 Note that this essay utilizes the same kind of text with hyperlinks that are featured in our website and book. The reader is encouraged to click on the links to learn more about the people and their practices as well as the concept of a non-linear multimedia educational tool and process.

Counter-reporting sustainability from the bottom up: the case of the construction company WeBuild and dam-related conflicts

Controversies around large-scale development projects offer many cases and insights which may be analyzed through the lenses of corporate social (ir)responsibility (CSIR) and business ethics studies. In this paper, we confront the CSR narratives and strategies of WeBuild (formerly known as Salini Impregilo), an Italian transnational construction company. Starting from the Global Atlas of Environmental Justice (EJAtlas), we collect evidence from NGOs, environmental justice organizations, journalists, scholars, and community leaders on socio-environmental injustices and controversies surrounding 38 large hydropower schemes built by the corporation throughout the last century. As a counter-reporting exercise, we code (un)sustainability discourses from a plurality of sources, looking at their discrepancy under the critical lenses of post-normal science and political ecology, with environmental justice as a normative framework. Our results show how the mismatch of narratives can be interpreted by considering the voluntary, self-reporting, non-binding nature of CSR accounting performed by a corporation wishing to grow in a global competitive market. Contributing to critical perspectives on political CS(I)R, we question the reliability of current CSR mechanisms and instruments, calling for the inclusion of complexity dimensions in and a re-politicization of CS(I)R accounting and ethics. We argue that the fields of post-normal science and political ecology can contribute to these goals.

Review: Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All, by Martha S. Jones

Review: <i>Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All</i>, by Martha S. Jones

How Research Evidence is Defined, Acquired, and Shared Across Systems That Address Intimate Partner Violence.

This exploratory study examined the flow of research evidence through systems that address intimate partner violence (IPV), including victim services, law enforcement, and criminal justice organizations. Qualitative interviews with representatives of these disciplines assessed how respondents define, acquire, and share research evidence. Findings suggest that research evidence is defined more broadly in the field than in academic settings, and is accessed primarily from trusted intermediaries within professional networks. State IPV coalitions and victim service providers are key intermediaries across sectors. Findings suggest the need for more tangible supports to support sharing of research information within and across service sectors.

Thinking With Models: The Construction of Legal Cases as Reflected in Late Qing Local Archives

Abstract In current scholarship, late imperial China’s criminal justice is mainly studied through judicial documents reviewed by the central administration, first and foremost the xingke tiben 刑科題本, or copies of routine memorials made by the censorial section of the Board of Punishments, as well as memorandum (shuotie 說帖) recorded in collections of cases. In this article, by contrast, I analyze a sample of more than forty dossiers on criminal cases constituted at the county level, for which the final judgment approved by the central administration is known. The reconstitution of the whole adjudication process shows that local magistrates often adapted the facts to fit the extant legal categories and commonly relied on model cases to craft their decisions. This pattern of administration of justice did not necessarily entail a miscarriage of justice and has its origin in a form of legal reasoning framed by the bureaucratic organization of late imperial Chinese justice.

“Shovel-Ready”

“Shovel-Ready”

Wildflowers and Water: Desire, Joy, and Creativity in Environmental Justice Organizing

Building from ethnographic and archival research, this article describes the role of desire, relationship building, and creativity in Kern County's environmental justice organizing. Located in Cali...