Bennett, C. (2014) What is the core normative argument for greater democracy in criminal justice? Good Society, 23 (1). pp. 41-54. ISSN 1089-0017
Abstract
In this paper, I look at some arguments for introducing a greater degree of lay participation into decision-making in the criminal justice system and other central institutions. I distinguish two types of argument for the conclusion that we should introduce greater lay participation: The Correction Thesis, that lay participation is necessary to correct for certain limitations and biases inherent even in the best decision-making that is carried out by people in possession of superior knowledge of an issue; and the Common Ownership Thesis, that democratic self-governance generates responsibilities that we cannot simply devolve to a technical association or bureaucracy to sort out for us. I argue that the Correction Thesis is inadequate to provide a general justification for greater lay participation. Such a general justification might more plausibly be given by the Common Ownership thesis. But the latter must be improved before we can fully understand its scope and plausibility. © 2014 The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2014 The Pennsylvania State University; University Park, PA. This is an author produced version of a paper subsequently published in Good Society. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Arts and Humanities (Sheffield) > Department of Philosophy (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 22 Feb 2016 09:42 |
Last Modified: | 21 Mar 2018 07:04 |
Published Version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.5325/goodsociety.23.1.0041 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Penn State University Press |
Identification Number: | 10.5325/goodsociety.23.1.0041 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:95436 |