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A Paper By Nils Christie

Decent Essays

In a paper by Nils Christie which was written in 1977, gives us the notion of “Conflicts as Property”. Christie further explains this notion as highly industrialized societies are taking over internal conflicts from the people who are actually involved; the defendant(s) and the victim(s) by creating process that puts the conflict in the hands of the law. In the following essay it will explain further in detail what Christie is trying to argue and my personal insight on the argument.
The main point Christie was arguing in this paper was legal institutions and legal professionals are stealing conflicts away from those who are involved in the conflict themselves; victim(s) and defendant(s). He further explains his notion by bringing in a more international perspective. Let’s begin with the Tanzanian conflict, the conflict emerges from a couple who has broken of their engagement. The way this conflict way dealt with was through 5 steps Christie mentions in the paper, but the basic idea was that the two parties (former lovers) were in the centre trying to resolve their conflict. They were close to their friends and family and an audience paying close attention to what is going on. But the way our society is laid out is the victim or defendant is pushed to a corner of the room without family or friends beside them and is represented by legal professionals. Christie further expands on his notion by saying “The parties are represented, and it is these representatives and the judge

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