Adams,
P., & Burford, G. (2004). Restorative Justice, Responsive Regulation and Social Work. Journal
of Sociology & Social Welfare, 31, 7+.
The authors’ main purpose is to stress the importance of several dichotomies that underpin social
work, including the correlation “between formal and informal helping and between care and control,
or empowerment and coercion” (Adams, Burford, 2004). They bring in the work of J. Braithwaite,
Restorative Justice and Responsive Regulation, that elucidates these concepts and try to put his
ideas in context of social work.
Adams and Burford (2004) argue that every look at social work will exhibit a certain degree of social control implicit in the profession as even empowerment “disguises a coercive core”. Pointing to worries about the “colonial” relationship between middle-class social workers and those in their care. The authors introduce Braithwaite’s findings to sociologists, aiming to help them create a more equitable and democratic environment for their also shatter the rosy image of restorative justice stressing that convicts will often be shamed for their deeds, which does not help them to return to non-deviant behavior and argue for Braithwaite’s idea of replacing restorative justice in its contemporary look with responsive regulation that will draw on the criminal’s own social network.
The article is primarily of interest to social workers and especially those involved in restorative justice procedures since it introduces the novel concept of responsive regulation and its application in social work. The idea to incorporate Braithwaite’s theories and concepts into social work seems relevant and interesting. However, the authors could make their article more effective by advancing specific plans as to how to include these ideas into welfare frameworks and providing a more substantial summary of Braithwaite’s ideas.
Clairmont, D. (1991). Community-Based Policing: Implementation and
Impact. Canadian Journal of Criminology, 33, 469-484.
The author, a researcher at the Atlantic Institute of Criminology of Dalhousie University Halifax in
Nova Scotia, explores the impact of community-based policing (CBP) on the state of modern policing
in Canada. The implementation of this idea that has effectively become “official
morality” of the Canadian police system with the approval of Solicitors General, authors
argue, has received relatively little coverage in scholarly work. The given study thus purports to
explore if “the emperor is wearing any clothes”, and whether community-based policing has not been
oversold.
To explore the impact of community-based policing in Canada, the authors decompose the CBP philosophy into constituents, trying to see the extent of its application. Concluding that the research preceding the implementation of CBP had been insufficient, they also find research about the implementation progress inadequate. The rest of the article presents the authors’ own attempt to measure the degree of CBP implementation in separate units such as, for instance, Halton Regional and Halifax police department in Nova Scotia. The authors evaluate the difference between the incremental, or rapid and thorough, approach to implementation with slow-go, piecemeal implementation style. The discussion of CBP implementation deals with an array of issues, such as accompanying internal organization change, the shift in the role of the uniformed patrol constable, managerial support, public expectations of police service, and community linkage. The authors nevertheless could improve their research if they summarized their qualitative descriptions into a coherent system of implementation measurement. Examining the impact of CBP on conventional productivity measures and on investigative quality, they conclude that there is little evidence that community policing has been effective in this respect. While this discussion is valuable for police professionals and social workers, the authors could make their point more relevant by generalizing evidence of CBP impact in quantifiable terms.
Forman, J.J. (2004). Community Policing and Youth as Assets.
Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 95, 1+.
The author points to the potential of community policing in building tenable relationships with
youth as long as community-based police can overcome public dissatisfaction that emerged from the
warrior model of community-police relationships if it begins to treat youth as assets. Advancing his
own definition of the notoriously broad notion of community policing, Forman (2004) contrasts it
with the opposing model that he names “judicial control”.
Criticizing the impact of community policing on transformation of inner-city youth, the author suggests taking a more active stance on involving youth in the activities of community police. Drawing on statistical data from earlier studies, Forman (2004) claims that community policing remains a sphere for a select few that lacks active participation by youth despite loud rhetoric. The author takes a stand for active involvement of the youth showing the costs of leaving them out of community policing. As many inner-city youth are balancing between “decent” and “street” values, youngster’s active involvement in the police can play a crucial role in their social development. This claim is substantiated by evidence obtained from numerous sociological studies. Forman concludes by advancing his own model of involving youth in police activities, outlining the core principles of this model and describing various pitfalls that may arise in the course of its implementation. The model is supported by evidence from successful experiments in different US cities including Boston and Chicago. John J. Forman’s proposal seems very interesting and promising from the viewpoint of expanding the boundaries of community policing and its social foundation. The ideas put forward in the article are ripe for testing in practical work of community police leaders.
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