Vision Series at George Mason University: Shannon Portillo
Doing Justice: How Justice Professionals Understand and Make Justice Decisons
Monday, April 23, 2012 7:30 PM EDT
Hylton Center - Prince William Campus
The term “justice” holds broad academic appeal, and the effective promotion of justice is a primary goal of policy makers and practitioners from a wide range of fields. However, justice is measured and conceptualized differently based on discipline, perception and policy orientation. Traditionally, justice is a philosophical and moral concept. But, as part of the foundation of more practice- and policy-orientated fields, the term has been adapted differently. Individuals often envision that, in a traditional adversarial justice system, two sides are locked in a battle of truths before a neutral arbiter where justice is revealed. Yet, most interactions with justice professionals are as mundane as a judge’s decisions about a person’s unemployment benefits. In her lecture, Dr. Portillo compares how academics conceptualize and measure justice with how practitioners implement and do justice, considering professionals’ day-to-day justice decisions and how these actions result in the process of “doing justice.”
