A Better Justice?

Community Programs for Criminalized Women.

Do community programs offer an effective alternative to imprisonment for women within the criminal justice system? A Better Justice? sets out the case.

Women are the fastest growing group of incarcerated people in Canada. A Better Justice? offers a carefully reasoned analysis of alternative, community-based justice programs. Using Winnipeg as a test case, Amanda Nelund reveals the complexity that underlies the governance of criminalized women. She finds that alternative programs neither reproduce dominant justice system norms nor provide complete alternatives, reflecting a tension between neoliberal and social justice approaches. By identifying potential ways to resist existing norms within these programs, A Better Justice? points to improved justice strategies – and ultimately to greater social justice for criminalized women in Canada.