Seeking justice, experiencing the state
Criminal justice and real legal uncertainty in the Democratic Republic of Congo
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 14799983 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Carolien Jacobs (0000-0001-5304-4654, Van Vollenhoven Institute, Leiden University, Netherlands, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2018 |
| Volume | 50 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 280-293 |
| Publication date | 2018-09-02 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0732-9113 • E-ISSN: 2305-9931 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/07329113.2018.1546421 |
| OpenAlex | W2910412221 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 29 |
This article studies criminal justice in the conflict-affected east of the DR Congo, showing that in cases involving serious injury or violent death, people expect the involvement of the state’s justice system despite their doubts about its functioning. The paper uses an ethnographic approach to study how the state, in a context of fragility becomes visible to people in the particular domain of criminal justice. The data show that Congolese justice seekers hardly expect “real legal certainty,” but instead look for outcomes that come closest to their emic ideas about what is just and what is right. To access state justice, it is widely held necessary to have either money or connections with more powerful people. For those without such connections, resort to non-state justice, including popular justice, can be a viable alternative. The empirical data illustrate how a relational approach to the state can help in understanding people’s experiences with and perceptions about the state and their reasons for resorting to state or non-state criminal justice provision. It thereby sheds light on how expectations about access to state justice and a lack of real legal certainty shape the existence of legal pluralism
Context (archaeology · Criminal justice · Criminology · Democracy · Economic Justice · Geography · Legal pluralism · Legal profession · Legal realism · Political science · Politics · Retributive justice · Sociology · State (computer science · Theory of criminal justice · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Cambodian History and Society · Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis · Law
Police in Africa
Law in Everyday Life
States at Work
Multiple Sovereignties and Summary Justice in Mozambique
Who’s Afraid of Legal Pluralism
What is Legal Pluralism
Why do Congolese People go to Court? A Qualitative Study of Litigants’ Experiences in Two Justice of the Peace Courts in Lubumbashi
Armed groups and the exercise of public authority
Everyday Justice for the Internally Displaced in a Context of Fragility
Public Service Provision in a Failed State
Colonial West Africa
Notes on the Difficulty of Studying the State (1977)
Dysfunctional state institutions, trust, and governance in areas of limited statehood
The Emergence and Transformation of Disputes
Law and Colonialism
The Heterogeneous State and Legal Pluralism in Mozambique
Legal Pluralism
Law and Social Change
Interrogating the neo-pluralist orthodoxy in American anthropology
Criminal justice, cultural justice
Blurred Boundaries
| Unique citing works | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,5 |
| Citation span | 2018 - 2024 (7) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 4 |