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Title: | The Criminal Law as a Tool for Social Justice? Holding the Government Criminally Responsible When Clients Injure Their Developmental Service Workers |
Authors: | Harper, Christina |
Advisor: | Baines, Donna |
Department: | Labour Studies |
Publication Date: | Sep-2005 |
Abstract: | <p>As democratic spaces and opportunities for oppressed populations are decreasing due to governmental neo-liberalism, groups are having to examine new ways to have their voices heard and needs met. One option for this is to charge governments criminally for the results of their neo-liberal restructuring and funding cuts. Particularly the opportunity to charge the government criminally when clients injure their developmental service workers could be an option to address restructuring and be a tool for social justice.</p> <p>The criminal law has the ability to function as a tool for social justice only when there is popular mobilization to first pass progressive laws, and secondly to ensure the laws that are passed are used to hold powerful people and groups criminally accountable. Only with both steps can the criminal law be a possible but imperfect tool for social justice. By holding powerful people and groups criminally responsible, it can contribute to affirmative recognition and affirmative redistribution strategies of social justice.</p> <p>Government restructuring in the developmental services can be clearly tied to an increase in client violence against developmental service workers and a lessened ability to contain that violence. Therefore to address these root causes of violence, the government could be charged criminally. These charges could help make the workplace safer by forcing the government to fully consider the victims of restructuring. As well it could work towards affirmative recognition and redistribution strategies of social justice by placing value on care work, women's identities and intellectually challenged individuals, and by increasing resources to these groups. However, while it is a tool, it cannot alone bring social justice to oppressed groups, nor is it a simple or perfect option.</p> |
URI: | http://hdl.handle.net/11375/10467 |
Identifier: | opendissertations/5511 6537 2113113 |
Appears in Collections: | Open Access Dissertations and Theses |
Files in This Item:
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fulltext.pdf | 2.22 MB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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