Co-producing justice through imposed and voluntary interaction

Dispute resolution might be one of the oldest services established by communities, to serve not only disputing parties but to maintain the balance of the society. Every society has its own ways of dealing with disputes and... [ view full abstract ]

Dispute resolution might be one of the oldest services established by communities, to serve not only disputing parties but to maintain the balance of the society. Every society has its own ways of dealing with disputes and punishing crimes, based on traditions, beliefs and societal structures.

In Europe, the justice systems have developed over centuries, but has lately been influenced by the practice of the European Court of Human Rights and the European Court of Justice. The effects are visible in the rights of the parties having more impact also on the formal law and procedures, strengthening the citizens position in especially criminal processes. At the same time, authorities involved in legal processes are being pressured to provide services more efficiently than before.

The pressure to serve citizens better and cheaper has spurred changes in procedural law. This work presents a study of a change, and its impact on practices, in the legislation governing the interaction between the investigator, prosecutor and parties in the criminal justice process in Finland. Data has been collected in different court districts in the country through semi-structured interviews, and coded and classified for patterns. The findings describe different ways of interacting in the criminal investigation, between investigator and prosecutor, and between investigator and parties. The study shows that interaction is both imposed, i.e. stated in the law, and voluntary, i.e. based on other grounds than mandates. The potential impact of the interaction between the individuals in the studied setting on the value provided by the justice system is discussed. The study also suggests that practices differ between court districts.