Janet Ransley | Griffith University (original) (raw)
Papers by Janet Ransley
Judges take a risk when they step outside the courtroom to play the role of royal commissioner Dy... more Judges take a risk when they step outside the courtroom to play the role of royal commissioner Dyson Heydon wasn’t the first royal commissioner to face allegations of bias, and he’s unlikely to be the last. Other commissioners, especially in Queensland, have fallen victim to the hazards they can encounter when they take on extrajudicial investigations. While Heydon’s alleged transgression was undoubtedly much milder than those of some of his predecessors, it has raised again the peculiar status of the government-appointed commissions and those who agree to run them. When Queensland premier Peter Beattie appointed Tony Morris QC to head a commission of inquiry in 2005, the job seemed clear and uncontroversial. Following scandals at Bundaberg Hospital, Morris was asked to investigate the government agency concerned, Queensland Health, and its recruitment of foreign-trained doctors. A senior lawyer of many years standing, Morris could have been expected to understand and conform to the rules about bias and procedural fairness… Read the full articl
Aggression and Violent Behavior, May 1, 2023
Connor Court Publishing eBooks, 2014
Criminology, May 29, 2019
The major premise of third party policing is that police on their own cannot succeed in reducing ... more The major premise of third party policing is that police on their own cannot succeed in reducing many crime and disorder problems. Instead, they need to draw on the social control mechanisms held by other government and community actors. Third party policing occurs when police leverage the powers or legal levers held by those other actors or partners to help control or reduce crime or disorder. The move for police to work through partners has accelerated due to trends in governance, the increasing scope of government regulation, and the expectation that communities will help co-produce public safety. At a time when many police agencies face budget restrictions, encouraging others to assume some crime control responsibility becomes especially important. These trends have expanded how crime can be regulated and prevented in ways that do not rest only on traditional criminal law or justice processes. Typical police partners include regulators, businesses, property owners, and schools. Legal levers include property or fire codes, liquor regulation, rental contracts, and school suspension or discipline powers. Police seek to activate or escalate their partners’ use of these non-criminal powers, either cooperatively or coercively, so as to extend the range of policing influence over problem places, people, or situations. Therefore, third party policing is both proactive, in that it is focused on addressing and reducing the causes of crime and disorder, and problem-oriented, in that it seeks to do so by analyzing and resolving recurrent, underlying problems. The focus on places, people, and situations also aligns with situational crime prevention techniques, such as hots spots policing and focused deterrence. But third party policing is differentiated from these other approaches through its reliance on the legal levers of partners. The first section in this entry outlines how third party policing has developed over the past twenty years. There are also sections on the role and use of regulation in policing, the contribution of civil remedies to crime prevention, descriptions of the multiple contexts in which third party policing has been adopted, factors that promote successful partnerships, assessments of outcomes and effectiveness, and issues to do with ethics and accountability.
Springer eBooks, 2017
This chapter examines the rise of marketisation in criminal justice and the increasingly importan... more This chapter examines the rise of marketisation in criminal justice and the increasingly important role of third sector organisations in these markets. The authors give a brief history of criminal justice marketisation and the roles in it for various state and non-state entities. They then focus specifically on third sector agencies, defined as non-state, non-private sector bodies such as charities, not-for-profit groups, and voluntary organisations and individuals. This is followed by a survey of the types and extent of third sector involvement in contemporary criminal justice and key current trends. They examine the advantages and disadvantages of this development, before finishing with a brief discussion of implications for the future of criminal justice.
International journal of comparative and applied criminal justice, Mar 26, 2021
ABSTRACT Bayley stated just four short years ago that “… policing has become dramatically more co... more ABSTRACT Bayley stated just four short years ago that “… policing has become dramatically more complex in six ways: its tasks, public demands, strategies, technology, accountability and resources” (p. 164). The COVID-19 pandemic has clearly escalated these policing complexities creating a range of new responsibilities, tasks and strategies for police as well as raising new accountability questions. In this paper, we examine a number of new health regulations that are now commonplace for police to enforce including: restrictions on the number of people visiting private homes, maintaining physical distancing between people in public space, and mandated wearing of masks. We explore what these new tasks, public demands, and strategies mean for the future of policing in democratic societies. We conclude that the pandemic has created unprecedented access for police into the private lives of citizens creating what David H. Bayley would have seen as both as an opportunity and threat to civil society.
Faculty of Law, 2009
ABSTRACT This article introduces the collection of six papers that commemorate the twentieth anni... more ABSTRACT This article introduces the collection of six papers that commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the tabling of the Report of the Commission of Inquiry into Possible Illegal Activities and Associated Police Misconduct (ʻthe Fitzgerald Reportʼ). The report exposed the entrenched corruption among Queenslandʼs political and police leaders, deeply ingrained abuses of process and power, and an inept public administration. It led to the prosecution and imprisonment of key politicians and police. The Fitzgerald Report was notable not just for these direct outcomes, but also for its prescriptions for widespread and enduring reform, which came from Fitzgeraldʼs analysis of the underlying causes of police corruption in Queensland. This article places the Fitzgerald Inquiry in its historical context, and provides a brief outline of the key provisions of the Fitzgerald Report. It concludes with a brief introduction to each of the six articles in this collection. These articles critically examine the aftermath of the Fitzgerald Report and the reforms that Fitzgerald recommended. They ask whether Fitzgeraldʼs blueprint for accountable and ethical government was achieved — or indeed capable of being achieved — and whether it has stood the test of time. No Yes
Cambridge University Press eBooks, Feb 6, 2006
A police officer recently told us a story about a “rogue” caravan park. The caravan park was a kn... more A police officer recently told us a story about a “rogue” caravan park. The caravan park was a known problem site with an average of twenty calls being received each month by the police department about disturbances, domestic disputes, drug dealing, car breaks and malicious damage at the park. Police had power under state laws to enter caravans and issue directions to prevent serious nuisances, including a provision that allowed them to exclude offenders from the park for up to twenty-four hours ( Police Powers and Responsibilities Act 2000 (Qld) ss368–371), but this was not preventing the problems from recurring. After many frustrating attempts to deal with the problem, the police learned that the manager was in violation of capacity conditions set in a permit from the local council (issued under the Brisbane City Council Local Law Caravan Parks and Relocatable Home Parks 2000 ), slotting more residents into the park than was allowed. The police created a crime control partnership with the local council as well as with the company that held the caravan park insurance policy. The local council instigated action (for failure to comply with the conditions of the permit, an offence attracting a maximum penalty of up to 50 penalty units or $3750 under s13 of the Local Law, and also leading to possible revocation of the permit, under s19). The insurance company investigated the caravan park and cancelled their insurance because of breach of policy conditions.
Cambridge University Press eBooks, May 4, 2006
Cambridge University Press eBooks, Feb 6, 2006
Third party policing represents a major shift in crime control. It is a trend in policing that mi... more Third party policing represents a major shift in crime control. It is a trend in policing that mirrors wider societal transformations in regulatory practices concomitant with the emergence of the “risk society.” In third party policing, responsibility for crime control no longer rests with state agencies, but is shared with a wide range of regulatory nodes (both formal and informal) including regulatory agencies, local councils, businesses and individuals. Police partner with property owners, local residents, business owners, parents, health and fire regulators and local councils to control and prevent crime. Third party policing is thus defined in our book as police efforts to persuade or coerce organizations or non-offending persons, such as public housing agencies, property owners, parents, health and building inspectors, and business owners to take some responsibility for preventing crime or reducing crime problems (Buerger and Mazerolle, 1998: 301). In third party policing, the police create or enhance crime control guardians in locations or situations where crime control guardianship was previously absent or non-effective. Our book had four main goals: first, to define and describe third party policing. What does third party policing look like in practice? How is third party policing implemented at the coalface of policing? What are the key dimensions of third party policing? What types of legal levers are used in third party policing and why?
Cambridge University Press eBooks, Feb 6, 2006
In previous chapters we have introduced the notion of third party policing, described its dimensi... more In previous chapters we have introduced the notion of third party policing, described its dimensions, and surveyed both its legal status, tools and effectiveness. These chapters have given a snapshot of how third party policing works in various situations, and of what we know about its effectiveness in preventing or responding to crime. We have shown that the use of third party policing is largely episodic, hidden and outside of most police programmatic responses. Despite this, and based on the limited evaluative evidence available, it appears that third party policing is a highly effective tactic. But to examine only the effectiveness of third party policing is to consider only half the equation – despite its apparent effectiveness, there has been limited examination of the side-effects, fairness and equity of third party policing. We need to examine the intentional and unintentional, positive and negative, impacts of third party policing on the partners who work with police (regulators, property owners, business owners), as well as on other groups in the community (schools, community groups), on the ultimate targets and their families and communities, and even on the police organizations themselves. How does third party policing affect the community in which it is practised? How equitably does it affect different communities, both internally and in comparison to other communities? Just as importantly, who is held accountable for the outcomes and impacts of third party policing, and how?
Cambridge University Press eBooks, Feb 6, 2006
A central part of contemporary police work is forging partnerships with individuals, groups and o... more A central part of contemporary police work is forging partnerships with individuals, groups and organizations in an effort to regulate, control and prevent crime (Sparrow, 2000). Police team up with property owners, building inspectors, environmental regulators, education department representatives, community groups, insurance companies, business leaders, local government personnel and anyone else who is motivated and able to work with police. But what happens when police co-opt and coerce organizations and/or individuals to help the police pursue their crime control and crime prevention functions? What happens when organizations and/or individuals are unmotivated or unwilling to go outside of their routine activities to take on a crime control or crime prevention responsibility? In our caravan park example described in Chapter 1, the park manager was unmotivated to deal with the multitude of problems stemming from his caravan park. It was not until the police found a “lever” (in this case the “lever” was a local council regulation and an insurance policy) – to “motivate” the park manager (a “third party”) into altering his practices. This process of using legal levers to regulate, co-opt and coerce third parties is central to what we describe as “third party policing” (see also Buerger and Mazerolle, 1998: 301). Third party policing exists in many forms. In about 30 percent of all third party policing initiatives, the police use coercion or persuasion of third parties to solve ongoing problems within the context of their problem-oriented policing program.
Cambridge University Press eBooks, Feb 6, 2006
In the previous chapter we described how in the neo-liberal, governed-at-a-distance, risk-managin... more In the previous chapter we described how in the neo-liberal, governed-at-a-distance, risk-managing state, police form communities of interest with other actors for crime control and crime prevention purposes. We defined third party policing as police efforts to persuade or coerce other non-offending parties such as health and building inspectors, housing agencies, property and business owners, parents and schools to take responsibility for preventing or reducing crime problems. We showed how third party policing is part of a transformation of governance generally, a shift from welfarism to neo-liberalism, directed at making individuals and groups within society more responsible for their own governance. In the transformed world of crime control, risk assessment and management has become the new primary goal of governance networks. These new networks require police to form partnerships with potential guardians to prevent or respond to criminal activity. As governments accept that crime is a problem to be curtailed and contained, rather than corrected, the police role moves increasingly from front-line patroller to facilitator, or information hub and risk assessor (Ericson and Haggerty, 1997) within the third party policing network. In the following chapters we go on to describe these partnerships in detail, to evaluate how they work, and to examine their impact on both levels of criminal activity and police. But to examine only the role of police in third party policing is to examine only one side of the third party policing equation – the other parties to the partnerships and networks and their goals and motivations should also be considered.
Journal of Criminal Justice Education, Mar 1, 2007
The Federation Press eBooks, 2011
International Criminal Justice Review, Nov 1, 2005
in the Statute of Marlborough of 1267. Under the previous legislation, the murdrum fine was to be... more in the Statute of Marlborough of 1267. Under the previous legislation, the murdrum fine was to be paid by the community whenever the body of a murdered person was found, with few exceptions. The Statute of Marlborough of 1267, however, also included an accidental death exception. The beaupleder fine had been typically viewed as a bribe to the king before a criminal trial and was not understood to be a punishment for a crime. Although the enforcement of the beaupleder fine disappeared, Brand illustrates that other fees appeared later that replaced the beaupleder fine. Many of the other reforms of the Statute of Marlborough of 1267 were concerned with the efficiency and abuses of the royal and local courts. The royal courts were known to be painfully slow, allowing for numerous delays for absent defendants. The new legislation substantially reduced the opportunities for procedural delays and adjournments. The local courts also had the perception of abusing their authority over the tenants. The Statute of Marlborough of 1267 attempted to address a number of abuses of the local courts, including, but not limited to, the local courts releasing convicted offenders without the consent of the king, lords hearing false pleas in their court, and lords forcing free tenants to answer for their free dwellings without the consent of a royal writ. Brand ends his book with a conclusion chapter that highlights the major themes of the text. Although Brand’s book is extremely well researched, it is ill suited for those without an appropriate background in the topic. Individuals lacking an intimate knowledge of medieval culture and policies may find the text very confusing. Accordingly, much of the terminology used in the book can be difficult to understand, and the depth of research equates to very slow reading. With that said, however, those interested in the field will find Brand’s text a useful resource.
Judges take a risk when they step outside the courtroom to play the role of royal commissioner Dy... more Judges take a risk when they step outside the courtroom to play the role of royal commissioner Dyson Heydon wasn’t the first royal commissioner to face allegations of bias, and he’s unlikely to be the last. Other commissioners, especially in Queensland, have fallen victim to the hazards they can encounter when they take on extrajudicial investigations. While Heydon’s alleged transgression was undoubtedly much milder than those of some of his predecessors, it has raised again the peculiar status of the government-appointed commissions and those who agree to run them. When Queensland premier Peter Beattie appointed Tony Morris QC to head a commission of inquiry in 2005, the job seemed clear and uncontroversial. Following scandals at Bundaberg Hospital, Morris was asked to investigate the government agency concerned, Queensland Health, and its recruitment of foreign-trained doctors. A senior lawyer of many years standing, Morris could have been expected to understand and conform to the rules about bias and procedural fairness… Read the full articl
Aggression and Violent Behavior, May 1, 2023
Connor Court Publishing eBooks, 2014
Criminology, May 29, 2019
The major premise of third party policing is that police on their own cannot succeed in reducing ... more The major premise of third party policing is that police on their own cannot succeed in reducing many crime and disorder problems. Instead, they need to draw on the social control mechanisms held by other government and community actors. Third party policing occurs when police leverage the powers or legal levers held by those other actors or partners to help control or reduce crime or disorder. The move for police to work through partners has accelerated due to trends in governance, the increasing scope of government regulation, and the expectation that communities will help co-produce public safety. At a time when many police agencies face budget restrictions, encouraging others to assume some crime control responsibility becomes especially important. These trends have expanded how crime can be regulated and prevented in ways that do not rest only on traditional criminal law or justice processes. Typical police partners include regulators, businesses, property owners, and schools. Legal levers include property or fire codes, liquor regulation, rental contracts, and school suspension or discipline powers. Police seek to activate or escalate their partners’ use of these non-criminal powers, either cooperatively or coercively, so as to extend the range of policing influence over problem places, people, or situations. Therefore, third party policing is both proactive, in that it is focused on addressing and reducing the causes of crime and disorder, and problem-oriented, in that it seeks to do so by analyzing and resolving recurrent, underlying problems. The focus on places, people, and situations also aligns with situational crime prevention techniques, such as hots spots policing and focused deterrence. But third party policing is differentiated from these other approaches through its reliance on the legal levers of partners. The first section in this entry outlines how third party policing has developed over the past twenty years. There are also sections on the role and use of regulation in policing, the contribution of civil remedies to crime prevention, descriptions of the multiple contexts in which third party policing has been adopted, factors that promote successful partnerships, assessments of outcomes and effectiveness, and issues to do with ethics and accountability.
Springer eBooks, 2017
This chapter examines the rise of marketisation in criminal justice and the increasingly importan... more This chapter examines the rise of marketisation in criminal justice and the increasingly important role of third sector organisations in these markets. The authors give a brief history of criminal justice marketisation and the roles in it for various state and non-state entities. They then focus specifically on third sector agencies, defined as non-state, non-private sector bodies such as charities, not-for-profit groups, and voluntary organisations and individuals. This is followed by a survey of the types and extent of third sector involvement in contemporary criminal justice and key current trends. They examine the advantages and disadvantages of this development, before finishing with a brief discussion of implications for the future of criminal justice.
International journal of comparative and applied criminal justice, Mar 26, 2021
ABSTRACT Bayley stated just four short years ago that “… policing has become dramatically more co... more ABSTRACT Bayley stated just four short years ago that “… policing has become dramatically more complex in six ways: its tasks, public demands, strategies, technology, accountability and resources” (p. 164). The COVID-19 pandemic has clearly escalated these policing complexities creating a range of new responsibilities, tasks and strategies for police as well as raising new accountability questions. In this paper, we examine a number of new health regulations that are now commonplace for police to enforce including: restrictions on the number of people visiting private homes, maintaining physical distancing between people in public space, and mandated wearing of masks. We explore what these new tasks, public demands, and strategies mean for the future of policing in democratic societies. We conclude that the pandemic has created unprecedented access for police into the private lives of citizens creating what David H. Bayley would have seen as both as an opportunity and threat to civil society.
Faculty of Law, 2009
ABSTRACT This article introduces the collection of six papers that commemorate the twentieth anni... more ABSTRACT This article introduces the collection of six papers that commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the tabling of the Report of the Commission of Inquiry into Possible Illegal Activities and Associated Police Misconduct (ʻthe Fitzgerald Reportʼ). The report exposed the entrenched corruption among Queenslandʼs political and police leaders, deeply ingrained abuses of process and power, and an inept public administration. It led to the prosecution and imprisonment of key politicians and police. The Fitzgerald Report was notable not just for these direct outcomes, but also for its prescriptions for widespread and enduring reform, which came from Fitzgeraldʼs analysis of the underlying causes of police corruption in Queensland. This article places the Fitzgerald Inquiry in its historical context, and provides a brief outline of the key provisions of the Fitzgerald Report. It concludes with a brief introduction to each of the six articles in this collection. These articles critically examine the aftermath of the Fitzgerald Report and the reforms that Fitzgerald recommended. They ask whether Fitzgeraldʼs blueprint for accountable and ethical government was achieved — or indeed capable of being achieved — and whether it has stood the test of time. No Yes
Cambridge University Press eBooks, Feb 6, 2006
A police officer recently told us a story about a “rogue” caravan park. The caravan park was a kn... more A police officer recently told us a story about a “rogue” caravan park. The caravan park was a known problem site with an average of twenty calls being received each month by the police department about disturbances, domestic disputes, drug dealing, car breaks and malicious damage at the park. Police had power under state laws to enter caravans and issue directions to prevent serious nuisances, including a provision that allowed them to exclude offenders from the park for up to twenty-four hours ( Police Powers and Responsibilities Act 2000 (Qld) ss368–371), but this was not preventing the problems from recurring. After many frustrating attempts to deal with the problem, the police learned that the manager was in violation of capacity conditions set in a permit from the local council (issued under the Brisbane City Council Local Law Caravan Parks and Relocatable Home Parks 2000 ), slotting more residents into the park than was allowed. The police created a crime control partnership with the local council as well as with the company that held the caravan park insurance policy. The local council instigated action (for failure to comply with the conditions of the permit, an offence attracting a maximum penalty of up to 50 penalty units or $3750 under s13 of the Local Law, and also leading to possible revocation of the permit, under s19). The insurance company investigated the caravan park and cancelled their insurance because of breach of policy conditions.
Cambridge University Press eBooks, May 4, 2006
Cambridge University Press eBooks, Feb 6, 2006
Third party policing represents a major shift in crime control. It is a trend in policing that mi... more Third party policing represents a major shift in crime control. It is a trend in policing that mirrors wider societal transformations in regulatory practices concomitant with the emergence of the “risk society.” In third party policing, responsibility for crime control no longer rests with state agencies, but is shared with a wide range of regulatory nodes (both formal and informal) including regulatory agencies, local councils, businesses and individuals. Police partner with property owners, local residents, business owners, parents, health and fire regulators and local councils to control and prevent crime. Third party policing is thus defined in our book as police efforts to persuade or coerce organizations or non-offending persons, such as public housing agencies, property owners, parents, health and building inspectors, and business owners to take some responsibility for preventing crime or reducing crime problems (Buerger and Mazerolle, 1998: 301). In third party policing, the police create or enhance crime control guardians in locations or situations where crime control guardianship was previously absent or non-effective. Our book had four main goals: first, to define and describe third party policing. What does third party policing look like in practice? How is third party policing implemented at the coalface of policing? What are the key dimensions of third party policing? What types of legal levers are used in third party policing and why?
Cambridge University Press eBooks, Feb 6, 2006
In previous chapters we have introduced the notion of third party policing, described its dimensi... more In previous chapters we have introduced the notion of third party policing, described its dimensions, and surveyed both its legal status, tools and effectiveness. These chapters have given a snapshot of how third party policing works in various situations, and of what we know about its effectiveness in preventing or responding to crime. We have shown that the use of third party policing is largely episodic, hidden and outside of most police programmatic responses. Despite this, and based on the limited evaluative evidence available, it appears that third party policing is a highly effective tactic. But to examine only the effectiveness of third party policing is to consider only half the equation – despite its apparent effectiveness, there has been limited examination of the side-effects, fairness and equity of third party policing. We need to examine the intentional and unintentional, positive and negative, impacts of third party policing on the partners who work with police (regulators, property owners, business owners), as well as on other groups in the community (schools, community groups), on the ultimate targets and their families and communities, and even on the police organizations themselves. How does third party policing affect the community in which it is practised? How equitably does it affect different communities, both internally and in comparison to other communities? Just as importantly, who is held accountable for the outcomes and impacts of third party policing, and how?
Cambridge University Press eBooks, Feb 6, 2006
A central part of contemporary police work is forging partnerships with individuals, groups and o... more A central part of contemporary police work is forging partnerships with individuals, groups and organizations in an effort to regulate, control and prevent crime (Sparrow, 2000). Police team up with property owners, building inspectors, environmental regulators, education department representatives, community groups, insurance companies, business leaders, local government personnel and anyone else who is motivated and able to work with police. But what happens when police co-opt and coerce organizations and/or individuals to help the police pursue their crime control and crime prevention functions? What happens when organizations and/or individuals are unmotivated or unwilling to go outside of their routine activities to take on a crime control or crime prevention responsibility? In our caravan park example described in Chapter 1, the park manager was unmotivated to deal with the multitude of problems stemming from his caravan park. It was not until the police found a “lever” (in this case the “lever” was a local council regulation and an insurance policy) – to “motivate” the park manager (a “third party”) into altering his practices. This process of using legal levers to regulate, co-opt and coerce third parties is central to what we describe as “third party policing” (see also Buerger and Mazerolle, 1998: 301). Third party policing exists in many forms. In about 30 percent of all third party policing initiatives, the police use coercion or persuasion of third parties to solve ongoing problems within the context of their problem-oriented policing program.
Cambridge University Press eBooks, Feb 6, 2006
In the previous chapter we described how in the neo-liberal, governed-at-a-distance, risk-managin... more In the previous chapter we described how in the neo-liberal, governed-at-a-distance, risk-managing state, police form communities of interest with other actors for crime control and crime prevention purposes. We defined third party policing as police efforts to persuade or coerce other non-offending parties such as health and building inspectors, housing agencies, property and business owners, parents and schools to take responsibility for preventing or reducing crime problems. We showed how third party policing is part of a transformation of governance generally, a shift from welfarism to neo-liberalism, directed at making individuals and groups within society more responsible for their own governance. In the transformed world of crime control, risk assessment and management has become the new primary goal of governance networks. These new networks require police to form partnerships with potential guardians to prevent or respond to criminal activity. As governments accept that crime is a problem to be curtailed and contained, rather than corrected, the police role moves increasingly from front-line patroller to facilitator, or information hub and risk assessor (Ericson and Haggerty, 1997) within the third party policing network. In the following chapters we go on to describe these partnerships in detail, to evaluate how they work, and to examine their impact on both levels of criminal activity and police. But to examine only the role of police in third party policing is to examine only one side of the third party policing equation – the other parties to the partnerships and networks and their goals and motivations should also be considered.
Journal of Criminal Justice Education, Mar 1, 2007
The Federation Press eBooks, 2011
International Criminal Justice Review, Nov 1, 2005
in the Statute of Marlborough of 1267. Under the previous legislation, the murdrum fine was to be... more in the Statute of Marlborough of 1267. Under the previous legislation, the murdrum fine was to be paid by the community whenever the body of a murdered person was found, with few exceptions. The Statute of Marlborough of 1267, however, also included an accidental death exception. The beaupleder fine had been typically viewed as a bribe to the king before a criminal trial and was not understood to be a punishment for a crime. Although the enforcement of the beaupleder fine disappeared, Brand illustrates that other fees appeared later that replaced the beaupleder fine. Many of the other reforms of the Statute of Marlborough of 1267 were concerned with the efficiency and abuses of the royal and local courts. The royal courts were known to be painfully slow, allowing for numerous delays for absent defendants. The new legislation substantially reduced the opportunities for procedural delays and adjournments. The local courts also had the perception of abusing their authority over the tenants. The Statute of Marlborough of 1267 attempted to address a number of abuses of the local courts, including, but not limited to, the local courts releasing convicted offenders without the consent of the king, lords hearing false pleas in their court, and lords forcing free tenants to answer for their free dwellings without the consent of a royal writ. Brand ends his book with a conclusion chapter that highlights the major themes of the text. Although Brand’s book is extremely well researched, it is ill suited for those without an appropriate background in the topic. Individuals lacking an intimate knowledge of medieval culture and policies may find the text very confusing. Accordingly, much of the terminology used in the book can be difficult to understand, and the depth of research equates to very slow reading. With that said, however, those interested in the field will find Brand’s text a useful resource.