This book explores ways of defining and enacting social justice in the context of social welfare and crime control policies. It examines how the notion of social justice informs experiences and understandings of the social world, why it appeals to so many people as a mobilising ideal for social change and reform, and how it shapes claims, demands and actions people take in the pursuit of the ‘good society’. The book considers the various ways in which social justice illuminates the multiple connections between social welfare and crime control policies, as well as the ambiguities, tensions and contradictions arising from them.

This book emphasises multiplicity and interconnectedness. In considering the many definitions and enactments of social justice in these policy areas, the book explores the changeable and contested nature of social justice as an idea and an ideal. The chapters look back in time as well as at the present day; our focus on the nations and peoples of Britain is set in the context of the experiences of different countries worldwide; and we focus on intersecting sites and scales of social contestation and policy-making, from the local level to global organisations.