Social Inequality and the Operation of Criminal Justice

Criminal Law and Social Injustice

In this course, Professor Victor Tadros (University of Warwick) explores the relationship between social inequality and criminal law. In the first lecture we introduce some criticisms of the ways in which the criminal justice system operates in the context of social injustice. In the second module, we explore the case for abolition of the criminal justice system, based on the idea that the institution perpetuates inequalities. In the third module, we examine the argument that those who are socially disadvantaged might be more justified in committing crimes, before turning to the view that such people might be excused for their conduct in the fourth module. In the fifth module we look at the standing of the state when holding people to account in committing crimes. In the sixth and final module, we look at how the state should respond to social injustice, particularly the kinds of which it has a role in perpetuating.

Social Inequality and the Operation of Criminal Justice

In this module, we introduce some key issues regarding the operation of the criminal justice system against a background of social inequality, focusing in particular on (i) over-representation of socially disadvantaged groups in the criminal justice system (ii) arguments concerning responses to the criminal justice system’s entrenchment of social inequalities (iii) how these arguments bear on views about how the criminal justice system should operate.