The power to criminalize
Subtitle: violence, inequality, and the law
By: Elizabeth Comack and Gillian Balfour.
Contributors: Balfour, Gillian, 1965-
Publisher: Fernwood Pub.
Published: 2004
Place of publication: Halifax, N.S
Language: eng
Number of pages: 199
Subjects: Violent crimes -- Canada.; Criminal law -- Canada.; Equality -- Canada.
Description: "Law's power to criminalize -- to turn a person into a criminal -- is formidable. Traditional legal doctrine argues that law dispenses justice in an impartial and unbiased fashion. Critical legal theorists claim that law reproduces gender, race and class inequalities. The Power to Criminalize offers an analysis that acknowledges the tensions between these two views of law. Drawing from crown attorneys' files on violent crime cases and interviews with defence lawyers, the authors reveal the complex ways in which discourses of masculinity, femininity, race, class and social space inform the strategies used to litigate these cases. This analysis raises questions about the prospects of challenging law to realize a more just society."--Pub. website.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 192-199).