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Law as Last Resort Keith Hawkins (Reader in Law and Society, and Fellow and Tutor in Law, Reader in Law and Society, and Fellow and Tutor in Law, Oriel College, University of Oxford)

Law as Last Resort By Keith Hawkins (Reader in Law and Society, and Fellow and Tutor in Law, Reader in Law and Society, and Fellow and Tutor in Law, Oriel College, University of Oxford)

Summary

In almost all legal disputing, formalities are employed as a last resort. This book presents a new theory of decision-making, exploring the conditions under which prosecution is employed to handle troublesome occupational health and safety problems. This book is for those interested in law, regulation, socio-legal studies, criminal justice, sociology, and political science.

Law as Last Resort Summary

Law as Last Resort: Prosecution Decision-Making in a Regulatory Agency by Keith Hawkins (Reader in Law and Society, and Fellow and Tutor in Law, Reader in Law and Society, and Fellow and Tutor in Law, Oriel College, University of Oxford)

This is a book about the life of the legal system. Its concern is legal decision-making, its focus the handling of prosecution cases in a regulatory agency. In almost all legal disputing formalities are employed as a last resort for a small proportion of cases. Case attrition is a constant feature in the legal system, whether criminal or civil, since extensive pre-trial negotiations search for solutions to problems that avoid the costs, risks, and delays of trial. This book analyzes the attrition of cases by studying decisions made about their creation, handling, disposal, and prosecution. Exploring these issues asks questions about the public face of law, the meaning of formal processes, and their impact on pre-trial legal manoeuvring. To prosecute is to enforce the law in both a public and a consequential way. In enforcing regulation prosecution visibly takes sides in the fundamental dilemma of regulatory control about how far law should justifiably intervene in business. Using extensive data collected over a fifteen-year period, and with privileged access to the UK Health and Safety Executive, the book presents a multi-level analysis of decisions about prosecution policy and individual cases in a variety of inspectorates.

Law as Last Resort Reviews

... a fascinating and sometimes compelling book ... the book's interest and importance is its enormous scope ... The material and analysis in this book will be useful across a range of fields of study ... raises important questions about sovereignty, and about the formulation and transmission of policies that have such an important public impact. * Legal Studies *
This book is the culmination of nearly twenty years' work on the enforcement of health and safety regulation in the United Kingdom. It is also theoretically and analytically a highly sophisticated study of legal decision-making which deserves to be widely read by lawyers and regulationists alike. * Law Quarterly Review *
The wealth of empirical detail permits a fine-grained analysis, and the time-span facilitates some generalisations about the nature of enforcement processes ... The most notable advance, however, is the development of a sophisticated and nuanced theoretical framework for analysing decision making in enforcement. * Law Quarterly Review *
Hawkins has used his extensive empirical material well ... the analytical framework is sophisticated and well nuanced and the argument clearly and powerfully expressed. Hawkins set the standard for enforcement studies in 1984: this book sets it again only at a much higher level. * Law Quarterly Review *
This is an impressive book, providing a fascinating account of the decision-making process within an orginization which must satisfy different and sometimes competing demands, demonstrating the ways in which HSE inspectors move between their roles as regulators, enforcers, and prosecutors. * Journal of Law and Society *
This is an excellent interpretive socio-legal study of the prosecutorial decision-making by the officers in the British Health and Safety Executive ... the book does draw conclusions about how legal officials actually make decisions, and these insights will be of great interest to policy makers. * Regulation at Work *

About Keith Hawkins (Reader in Law and Society, and Fellow and Tutor in Law, Reader in Law and Society, and Fellow and Tutor in Law, Oriel College, University of Oxford)

Keith Hawkins is Reader in Law and Society, and Fellow and Tutor in Law at Oriel College, Oxford

Table of Contents

Abbreviations ; PART I: FORMALITIES ; 1. Themes, Perspectives, Questions ; 2. Organizing Ideas ; 3. Pre-Trial Processes ; PART II: SURROUND ; 4. Decision-Making Environments ; PART III: FIELD ; 5. Formal Structure and Practice ; 6. Prosecution Policy ; 7. Symbols and Images ; PART IV: FRAME ; 8. Enforcers' Theories of Compliance and Punishment ; 9. The Instrumental Frame: Will Prosecution Have an Impact? ; 10. The Organizational Frame: Prosecuting as Advertising ; 11. The Symbolic Frame: The Social Construction of Blame ; 12. The Legal Frame: Can a Case be Made? ; PART V: REFLECTION ; 13. On Prosecution, Legal Decision-Making, and Law ; Appendix: Research Methods and Data Sources ; References ; Index of Authors ; Index of Subjects

Additional information

GOR006679837
9780199243891
0199243891
Law as Last Resort: Prosecution Decision-Making in a Regulatory Agency by Keith Hawkins (Reader in Law and Society, and Fellow and Tutor in Law, Reader in Law and Society, and Fellow and Tutor in Law, Oriel College, University of Oxford)
Used - Very Good
Paperback
Oxford University Press
2003-01-16
508
N/A
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
This is a used book - there is no escaping the fact it has been read by someone else and it will show signs of wear and previous use. Overall we expect it to be in very good condition, but if you are not entirely satisfied please get in touch with us

Customer Reviews - Law as Last Resort