Respect and Criminal Justice

Respect and Criminal Justice offers the first sustained examination of ‘respect’ in criminal justice in England and Wales, where the value is elusive but of persisting significance. The book takes the form of a critique of the ‘respect deficit’ in policing and imprisonment. It is especially concerned with the ways in which both institutions are merely constrained and not characterised by respect. In the course of the critique, it emerges that they appeal to the word ‘respect’ but rarely and only superficially address the prior question of what it is to respect and be respected. Despite academic interest in the democratic design of these institutions in recent decades, the book concludes that respect is more akin to a slogan than a foundational value of criminal justice practice.