Toward eco-justice for all - Environmental Harm: An Eco-justice Perspective - page 155

Specifically, the practices of justice ought to be informed by a moral
statement that encapsulates what it is that we want to achieve by the
doing of justice (see White and Graham, 2010). Here, the republican
theory of justice (Braithwaite and Pettit, 1990) is particularly insightful
and useful. This theory is premised on the idea that if every act of crime
represents damage to liberty and wellbeing, then the system's task is
to promote positive liberty, by rectifying or remedying the damage
caused by the crime. The theory incorporates many of the notions of
justice cited in Box 5.1 in that it is interested in addressing harm as
evident at different levels, examining the institutional consequences of
intervention, and supporting restorative practices that foster individual
and overall health and wellbeing.
The core concept of republican theory is the notion of 'republican
liberty' or dominion. This refers to a form of 'negative liberty' where
non-interference in our lives by other people (including state officials)
is protected by law and general community norms. According to the
authors of republican theory, Braithwaite and Pettit (1990), the prime
goal of any society should be to maximise the enjoyment of dominion
(personal liberty).
In this framework, crime is seen as the denial of personal dominion.
This is so at three different levels.
• The irst is a negative challenge to the dominion status of the victim .
A threat to, or disregard for, the dominion of an individual is an
attack on the status of that individual as someone who holds a
protected dominion status in society. If someone commits a crime
against an individual, then the criminal act asserts the vulnerability
of the victim to the will of the criminal, nullifying the protected
status of the victim.
• Second, if successful, the criminal attempt not only disregards the
victim's dominion, but also directly undermines, diminishes and
perhaps even destroys the victim's dominion . For example, kidnapping
or murdering someone will destroy that person's dominion, while
stealing a person's property will diminish his or her dominion by
undermining certain exercises of dominion that person might
otherwise have pursued (for example, it diminishes the liberty to
use that property).
• Third, every crime also represents communal evil; it does an evil
to the community as a whole . A crime not only affects the dominion
status of the individual victim, but also endangers the community's
dominion generally. This is because the fear of crime, or lack of