ABSTRACT
In this concluding chapter, we return to the questions: who makes the “co” in co-production? And what makes co-production in criminal justice distinct from other settings? Reflecting on our case studies, we identify “who” makes co-production happen: collaborative workers; champions and innovators; rebels and entrepreneurs. We identify and explore the omnipresence of justice – how the criminal justice system and its workings shadow and constrain co-production efforts in ways that are unique to the criminal justice context. We consider parallels with other settings such as mental health, yet also how certain power relations are exaggerated in criminal justice contexts: how criminalised people are stigmatised, viewed as unworthy of equal partnership or status; how the State’s power to punish, when vested in people and institutions, creates rigid power relations; and how certain groups are seen as more “risky” than others. In settler-colonial States, like Australia, aspirations towards self-determination frequently conflict with Indigenous peoples’ over-criminalisation, subjugation of Indigenous ways of knowing, and the lack of legal recognition of First Nations peoples’ sovereignty. Co-production can hold possibilities to disrupt these power inequalities: to expand accountability; create space for lived experience; make room to make mistakes; and emphasise the need to take time, for trust and relationships to grow.
