Law as Last Resort: Prosecution Decision-Making in a Regulatory Agency

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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

Prosecution Decision-Making in a Regulatory Agency

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)

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English

Oxford University Press
01 February 2003

Jurisprudence & philosophy of law; Legal profession: general; Offences against public health, safety, order; Criminal procedure; Environment law; Public health & safety law

Series: Oxford Socio-Legal Studies

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.

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)
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 216mm, Width: 139mm, Spine: 27mm
Weight: 1g
ISBN: 9780199243891
ISBN 10: 0199243891
Series: Oxford Socio-Legal Studies
Pages: 508
Publication Date: 01 February 2003
Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , A / AS level , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

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

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

Reviews for Law as Last Resort: Prosecution Decision-Making in a Regulatory Agency

"`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 `Law as Last Resort is Hawkins' magnum opus ... a broad scoped, definitive work on the process of law, from its everyday instrumental and expressive purposes, to its symbolic and dramatic uses. He has produced a work of serious scholarship and significant practical implications. Hawkins's dedication to studying decision making in its natural setting has revealed intricacies of law and regulation heretofore unavailable.' Diane Vaughan, Professor of Sociology, Boston College"