Power in the Courtroom: Judicial Perspectives on Care-Experienced Girls and Women in Court

A new article has been published in the Howard Journal of Crime and Justice by Dr Claire Fitzpatrick with colleagues Dr Katie Hunter (Manchester Metropolitan University), Professor Jo Staines (University of Bristol) and Dr Julie Shaw (Liverpool John Moores University)

Power in the Courtroom: Judicial Perspectives on Care-Experienced Girls and Women in Court is available open access here.

It focuses on rarely heard judicial perspectives, and the little explored challenges facing care-experienced girls and women in court. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with judges and magistrates, it reveals how the court process may be a disempowering and inadequate process for both the powerful and the powerless. Using the four elements of procedural justice as a lens to explore this – voice, trust, neutrality and respect – the article highlights the immense challenges of achieving these goals for those with histories of being stigmatised and marginalised. In searching for solutions, the concept of ‘judicial rehabilitation’ enables consideration of how we might rehabilitate our systems and imagine a more hopeful approach to justice.

For further information about the project on which this article is based, please contact claire.fitzpatrick@lancaster.ac.uk