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Taken lives matter: open justice and recognition in inquests into deaths at the hands of the state

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 June 2016

Sam McIntosh
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Abstract

Lord Neuberger describes open justice as a procedural principle requiring that ‘what goes on in court and what a court decides is open to scrutiny’ (Neuberger, 2011). The prime rationale given for this principle is that it is a safety check on procedural fairness. Such a conception of open justice applies on only a superficial level in inquests into use-of-force deaths at the hands of the state. This paper examines the practice of, and rationales behind, opening up use-of-force deaths at the hands of the state to scrutiny through inquests. They suggest a primarily intrinsic rather than instrumental link between openness and inquests’ purposes, which requires a reframing of traditional conceptions of open justice in this context. It is further argued that recognition theory can provide the normative link between openness and justice in these circumstances – a link that is implicit in the term ‘open justice’ but rarely explored in inquests.

Type
Articles
Information
International Journal of Law in Context , Volume 12 , Issue 2: Frontiers in Coronial Justice – ushering in a new era of coronial research , June 2016 , pp. 141 - 161
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

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