160 pages
228mm x 145mm
ISBN-10: 1 85856 179 5
ISBN-13: 978 185856 179 0
March 2000
'The book is easy to read, and ... makes very interesting reading... useful for personnel in voluntary organisations, and practitioners in criminal justice, and social work.'- Journal of Ethnicity in Criminal Justice
...likely to be an essential read for practitioners in the volntary sector, and ought to be required reading for people working in the criminal justice system, notably law enforcement. - National Coalition for Black Volunteering
Black Justice casts new light on the centrality of race in contemporary society. It critically examines a unique black voluntary organisation working with black people who are detained by the police and reveals how dependant the organisation is on the police's co-operation and support. It also reveals the strategies adopted by the police to undermine or subvert this voluntary service, while at the same time asserting their support for it and claiming to be operating according to equal opportunities directives.
Black Justice? moves forward the debates over the centrality of race in contemporary society. It critically examines the pursuit of justice for black people by a unique black voluntary organisation and explains how and why organisational objectives were influenced and constrained by the racialised policy priorities of crucial supporting criminal justice agencies and the racialised thinking of police officers. The book presents a fresh interpretation of the controversial relationship between black people and the key criminal justice agents - the police.
The author explains how volunteers from diverse racialised backgrounds were able to collaborate successfully in the organisation. She explores the practical and analytical difficulties of using the term 'black' to describe any racialised group and suggests an alternative way of conceptualising racialised identity. Black Justice? demonstrates that the role and meaning of race is integral to routine aspects of social life and so has far-reaching consequences in sustaining key social divisions.
Dr Nadia Joanne Britton is a Leverhulme Trust Research Fellow in the Sociology Department at Manchester University.
