The legitimation strategies of “Progressive” prosecutors

Cox, A. L. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9939-078X and Gripp, C. (2022) The legitimation strategies of “Progressive” prosecutors. Social & Legal Studies, 31 (5). pp. 657-678. ISSN 1461-7390 doi: 10.1177/09646639211060814

Abstract/Summary

This article focuses on the self-legitimation strategies of frontline prosecutors working in a Northeastern city in the United States (“Belton”). The research took place in a self- described “progressive” prosecutor’s office in the midst of a legitimacy crisis that prosecutors faced across the country. The prosecutors in Belton spoke about their role and practices in the face of this legitimacy crisis through a strategy of differentiation from other criminal justice actors, aimed at establishing their purported positional and moral superiority in enacting criminal justice practices, and through minimizing their responsibility for the systemic harms that prosecutors more generally have been said to perpetuate.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/113064
Identification Number/DOI	10.1177/09646639211060814
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	No Reading authors. Back catalogue items Arts, Humanities and Social Science > School of Law
Publisher	Sage
Download/View statistics	View download statistics for this item