Vulnerability and the criminal justice system

Guest editorial: Throughout the criminal justice process, practitioners are required to provide additional assistance or support to victims and offenders (such as the provision of a translator or medical care) to ensure equity and the just application of law. These types of responses are inevitably framed in legislation and policy as ‘extraordinary’ and ‘complex’, time intensive and costly, and while well-meaning, fail to consider the significant ways in which vulnerability is institutionalised and iatrogenic. Dealing with this victim’s disability or that offender’s language capacities misses the core impediment to managing vulnerability in the criminal justice system. Existing approaches assume the absence of vulnerabilities unless a criminal justice actor falls within a recognisable category of ‘vulnerable’ person. Recognisable (in law or in policy) vulnerable people vary between jurisdictions, and correct identification of this vulnerability is wholly dependent upon practitioners’ willingness and capacity to assess victims’ and offenders’ individual pathology or social membership.