Kristian Williams - Our Enemies in Blue - Police and Power in America

81 Auld et aI., "Our Practice," 3.4.2. Parentheses in original.82 Auld et aI., "Our Practice," 3.4.83 Auld et aI., "Our Practice, " 8.2.1.84 Auld et al., "Our Practice," 9.3.2.85 Harry Mika and Kieran McEvov, "Restorative Justice in Conflict: Paramilitarism, Community,and the Construction of Legitimacy in Northern Ireland," Compilriltive Justice Review 4:3-4(2001): 307-310. Parentheses and emphases in original.86 It has been suggested, perhaps too optimistically, that the very ideology of restorative justiceputs some check on abuse, since it emphasizes a respect for diversity, human rights, and mutualunderstanding. McEvoy and Mika, "Republican Hegemony or Community Ownership? " 69-70.87 Auld et aI., "Our Practice," 7.2.88 Feenan, "Communiry Justice," 53-54; and McEvoy and Mika, "Republican Hegemony or CommunityOwnership?" 68-69.89 Quoted in Munck, "Repression, Insurgency, and Popular Justice," 87. These concerns are real,and they should be carefully weighed. But we should also remember that the practical alternativeis the justice of the state-that is, the justice of the police, the courts, overcrowded prisons, andlethal injections. As we evaluate the limitations of popular justice we should measure it, not onlyagainst our ideals, but also against the very real system of the state. in all the cases discussedhere, the revolutionaries' efforts at policing are far from perfect, but a good bit better than thoseof the authorities. To offer just one point of comparison, the legal system in Northern Irelandhas been characterized by arbitrary detention, torture, broad powers of search and seizure,internment without trial, courts without juries, secret evidence, constant surveillance, a relianceon paid informers, and military intervention. Munck, "Repression, Insurgency, and PopularJustice," 84-85.301