Crime is one of the major challenges to any new democracy. Violence often increases after the lifting of authoritarian control, or in the aftermath of regime change. But how can a fledgling democracy fight crime without violating the fragile rights of its citizens? In Transformation and Trouble, accomplished theorist and criminal justice scholar Diana Gordon critically examines South Africa's efforts to strike the perilous balance between democratic participation and social control.South Africa has made great progress in pursuing the Western ideals of participatory justice and due process. Yet Gordon finds that popular concerns about crime have fostered the growth of a punitive criminal justice system that undermines the country's rights-oriented political culture. Transformation and Trouble calls for South Africa to reaffirm its commitment to public empowerment by reforming its criminal justice system-an approach, she argues, that would strengthen the country's new democracy. "An eloquent, critical, but ultimately optimistic, analysis of the democratization of crime and justice in post-apartheid South Africa."--Bill Dixon, School of Criminology, Education, Sociology and Social Work, Keele University"A must read for understanding contemporary South Africa's agonizing dilemmas as it struggles to reconcile crime control with democratic values."--Jerome H. Skolnick, New York University School of Law"Gordon's vast experience with criminal justice illuminates her cautionary tale of the search for a new way in south Africa."--Paul Chevigny, New York UniversityDiana Gordon is Professor Emerita of Political Science and Senior Research Scholar, City University of New York.
Author(s): Dr. Diana Gordon
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
Year: 2006
Language: English
Pages: 399
Contents......Page 8
Preface......Page 10
List of Abbreviations......Page 16
1. Introduction: Two Paradigms and a Program......Page 18
I. From Racial Enforcement to Post-Apartheid Crime......Page 38
2. Pre-apartheid Justice: Versatile Instrument of Repression......Page 40
3. Apartheid Justice: A Contradiction in Terms......Page 67
4. Bitter Fruit from Poison Seeds......Page 100
II. Shifting the Constituency: Theory and Practice......Page 128
5. Elements of Liberal Justice in a New Democracy......Page 130
6. Protection, Integrity, and Rights: South Africa’s Achievements......Page 154
III. Deepening Democracy through Social Ordering: Theory and Practice......Page 194
7. Public-Empowering Justice: Resource for a New Democracy......Page 196
8. Participation Thwarted: South African Failures......Page 231
IV. Post-Post-Apartheid Challenges......Page 264
9. Wielding the Big Stick......Page 266
10. Democratic Justice and the Competent Citizen......Page 290
Notes......Page 304
Bibliography......Page 344
Index......Page 368
