Crime, Truth and Justice [Paperback]

This book is concerned to analyse the production of criminological knowledge, with particular reference to one of the most important institutions in the western world involved in this -the official inquiry. The core focus of this book is thus to investigate the structures and processes of official discourse, and the ways in which this produces knowledge on crime and justice - a much neglected topic in comparison to the attention that has been played to the role of the media in this process. The mechanisms that produce official discourse vary according to different jurisdiction, but some clear themes nevertheless emerge.Introduction  Part 1: Official discourse and modern societies  1. Official inquiry, truth and criminal justice, G Gilligan  2. Royal commissions and criminal justice: behind the ideal, D Brown  3. From deceit to disclosure: the politics of official inquiries in the United Kingdom, P Scraton  Part 2: Official discourse, legitimation and delegitimation 4. The acceptable prison: official discourse, truth and legitimacy in the nineteenth century, J Pratt  5. Truth, independence and effectiveness in prison inquiries, N Hancock and A Liebling  6. Police governance and official inquiry, D Dixon  7. The role of commissions of inquiry in establishing the 'truth' about 'Aboriginal justice' in Canada, P Stenning and C LaPrairie  8. Penal truth comes to Europe: think tanks and the 'Washington consensus' on crime and punishment, L Wacquant Part 3: Official discourse as closure, healing or crisis management  9. From Brixton to Bradford: official discourse on race and urban violence in the UK, J Lea  10. Exhausting whiteness: the 1996-98 Belgian parlilÃC