Streams of Justice

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"Law, Crime and Punishment: The Coercive Strategies of Power"

Often the term “justice” is associated with the judicial system that regulates the various dimensions of social existence. Legal codes serve to define right and wrong, and their impartial application is required to maintain the orderly functioning of society. The legal system appears as the great impersonal guardian of truth and justice, the keeper of civility and public safety. In our society, the law occupies a place of unassailable authority and power.

We need to probe this realm of judicial authority to see what’s behind it. Who makes the laws that rule our lives? How did “the rule of law” come into existence? Who decides that certain acts are criminal, a deviation from the norm? Who benefits from the ways in which law and order are determined and enforced? What other cultural institutions align themselves with the coercive contours of power evident in the legal system? Is it possible that pursuing true justice puts us at odds with the legal norms defined by social and political power?

These are the issues we want to explore. Leading us in our consideration and discussion of these matters will be Craig Hathaway (retired criminologist/sociologist, teacher, social researcher, consultant to federal, provincial and municipal justice system agencies), Calvin Baird (philosopher and educator) and Elaine Chau (volunteer with PIVOT Legal Society).

[Recorded Monday, January 26, 2009]