Warwick CJC founding member Jacqueline S. Hodgson’s new monograph ‘The Metamorphosis of Criminal Justice’ is now out.

Published in April 2020 by Oxford University Press, the focus of this book is the potentially radical and fundamental changes that are taking place within criminal justice in Britain and in France and the ways that these are driven by wider domestic, European or international concerns. This metamorphosis away from established values and practices is eroding what were once regarded as core rights and freedoms in the name of efficiency, security and justice to victims.

Beginning with a comparative analysis of adversarial and inquisitorial procedural values and traditions, and an examination of broad trends in domestic and European criminal justice, the book then discusses how the roles of prosecution and defence have been re-shaped in different ways in both jurisdictions – both in the text of the law and in their practices. The final section considers how systems within different procedural traditions adapt to address, or provide a remedy for, systemic flaws that produce wrongful convictions and in particular, the role of the defence in these procedures.

By adopting a comparative approach with France, the study explores the nature and reach of these trends, the ways that they challenge and disrupt criminal processes and values and the contrasting responses that they provoke. It reveals how criminal justice traditions continue to be shaped in different ways by broader policy and political concerns; how different systems adapt, change and distort when faced with (sometimes conflicting) pressures domestically and externally; and how different procedural values may serve to structure or limit reform, and so work to facilitate or resist change.

This work provides a valuable resource for scholars working in the field of criminal justice, especially those with a particular interest on comparative criminal justice, the criminal trial, justice outcomes and the politics of criminal justice.

Purchase ‘The Metamorphosis of Criminal Justice’ here.